Solo Saga: Hermes's Struggle
by VibeQuake
Summary: My name is Hermes and I am the youngest son of OWCA's top agent. Three years after being found, I have to adjust to distrust of me and my dangerous abilities. OWCA has been taken over by fear and suspicion, and I am at the centre of it. I must survive a torrent of problems, both external and internal, but I don't know if I can survive pain this great. But I must try...
1. Finding Hermes

**This story takes place three and a half years after Priya's Pain ended.**

…

 **Perry's POV**

I curse as I stare at the burnt remains of yet another facility. Bill and Dimitri must have known we were coming.

I kick a stone violently, sending it flying and nearly hitting my friend.

"Watch it!" hisses Peter.

"Give him a break," Pinky snaps. "You know why we're here."

Peter's angry face relaxes but he does not apologise.

"I hate to say it," begins Terry. "But this was the penultimate facility in this country. It seems to me like they must have gone to another country."

"But there are at least a dozen facilities spread over almost as many countries," Pinky points out. "It would take too long to find them all."

"I'll do it if it comes to that," I vow. "I will not stop until I find my baby."

"Perry, it's been three and a half years," Pinky says sympathetically. "You've searched every corner of Danville and almost every corner of this side of America. Even if Hermes is still alive—which is doubtful at this point—it will be almost impossible to find him. We don't know what he looks like now. At his first birthday, his fur colour will have changed."

"I know," I snap. "I'm not looking for Hermes, per se. I'm looking for Bill Hawkes. When I find him, I'll find Hermes." My friends show signs of interrupting so I add, "Or I'll find whatever happened to him."

I turn towards Snowfield. It's the exact opposite of a desert. Instead of there being sand and hot weather, there's snow and cold weather.

"The last one is over Snowfield," I tell my friends.

"Perry, we can't go now!" Terry says in alarm. "There's a snowstorm coming, we'll get caught right in the middle of it! Let's just go and come back later."

"But snowstorms take days to pass," I argue. "I can't wait days. I'm going now."

"We don't want another missing animal on our hands," snaps Peter.

I know what he's talking about, and it's not necessarily Priya. Lots of female animals have been going missing and reappearing a couple of weeks later. I suspected kidnapping initially, but there was nothing that linked the disappearances and they stopped after about a month.

About a week after Priya was rescued, Peter's pregnant daughter Kimi went missing for a couple of weeks, before she was found with a scar across her abdomen, having lost the baby and being unable to have any more children. Kimi's mate Luke was devastated but at least Kimi is safe and relatively unharmed. And at least they have Lokie, who is four and a half years old now.

"Well, you don't have to come with me," I snap.

"Are you crazy?" retorts Pinky. "If we don't come with you, you'll have _no_ chance!"

"I guess…" I admit.

"You've admitted it," states Peter. "Now that you have acknowledged that you need us, I can say: you owe us."

"Whatever."

I start walking through the snow. I know that the thinness of the snow is not going to last much longer.

And it doesn't.

…

 **Yeah, the chapter lengths in this story are going to vary from between 500-1500 words most likely, though some might go over or under.**


	2. The Snowstorm

**Pinky's POV**

The snowstorm is not making the journey easy for us.

Terry has to support me, and after two hours he's actually carrying me. Peter stumbles only twice in the first hour but by the time two hours have passed, Peter is almost dragging himself through the snow. With his arms hugging himself to keep himself warm, Perry stumbles onwards, the grim determination evident in his face.

Perry suddenly stumbles and pitches face-down into the snow. Before anybody can help him up, he determinedly climbs to his feet and carries on, this time holding his hands in front of his face to protect it from the blinding snow.

 **Terry's POV**

I'm worried about my friend. He's determined to find his son but I'm sure it's going to kill him.

"Perry!" I yell to be heard over the whistling wind. "It's too cold! We won't survive much longer!"

"We have to keep going!" Perry yells back. "We're nearly there!"

"How do you know?" bellows Peter. "I'm going to pass out soon!"

"Nobody forced you to come with me!" yells Perry.

"STOP SAYING THAT!" I suddenly scream. "WE _WERE_ FORCED TO COME WITH YOU! IF WE HADN'T COME WITH YOU, YOU WOULD HAVE DIED, SO SHUT UP!"

Perry just growls and continues on. I begin to follow but my aching legs fold under me and I crash into the thick snow, being careful to avoid landing on Pinky. As I try to get up, Peter wordlessly comes up to me and takes the semi-conscious Chihuahua from me. Then he helps me to my feet and provides an arm to lean on. I nod my thanks and the two of us trudge after Perry.

 **Peter's POV**

I really wish Perry had chosen a different day to do this trek on. I can't feel my freaking ears.

To make matters worse, it's like he doesn't care about his friends. I'm carrying Pinky _and_ helping Terry find his footing. Perry just continues on without even looking back. I know he wants to find his son, I would too, but that's not much of an excuse, seeing as we're all suffering here.

After a few more minutes, Pinky struggles out of my arms and starts walking. "I'm okay," he says bravely. "I don't want to be a burden to you anymore."

This is actually very helpful, since now I can focus on giving Terry more help. The poor turtle has been carrying Pinky _and_ himself for the last two hours. At least I've been able to drag myself and sit down briefly for breaks. Terry has not stopped once.

Pretty soon, a large building looms out of the snow. That gives us energy. All four of us pick up speed and reach the metal door. Perry throws it open and we all tumble inside, closing the door behind us.

I'm pretty sure we all sleep, even Perry. That two hour trek really took a lot out of us.

…

 **Perry's POV**

I wake up and immediately curse myself for having fallen asleep.

My friends are still snoozing gently. I take out my phone and, just like I did over two decades ago at the retreat, set an alarm. This time, I set it for five minutes and turn it up to the highest volume.

I leave the porch area and go through the door. The facility inside looks a lot like the facility that Priya was kept in.

I know immediately that this place is being lived in. There's a fire in the fireplace and lights are on. I edge towards the door on the far side, but then I hear the alarm go off. I can't believe it's been five minutes already.

A few moments later, Peter stumbles through the door and stops on a rug. He looks tired but alert. "The others are coming."

As if on cue, Pinky and Terry join Peter on the rug. Terry looks the worst. I feel a stab of guilt as I look at my three exhausted friends. During the retreat, I nearly killed someone for hurting my friends. Now I just led them through a perilous trek during which they could very well have died and throughout the walk I didn't pay any attention to them.

I open my mouth and say, "Guys, I'm sorry."

They stare at me. I continue, "For dragging you with me and not caring about you when you were suffering. I was being selfish, and I'm sorry."

To my surprise, Peter is the one who comes forward and puts his paw on my shoulder. "It's okay. You're not being selfish. You just want to get your son back, I get it. But next time, do listen to what we're saying, okay?"

I nod quickly. "Of course."

"Cool." Peter pats me hard on the back. "Then let's go find out of anyone's here."

…

 **Next chapter: … actually, I won't give you guys any spoilers for this one I:}**


	3. Finally, The Truth

**I do not own Bill and Dimitri.**

…

 **Perry's POV**

We enter the next room quietly and find it a laboratory that is most definitely in use. Chemicals and stuff that look very fresh are lined up in flasks along a counter. There's a table with a cloth over it in the middle.

I pick up one of the chemicals and sniff it. It smells like sulphur.

A door opposite us opens and a familiar man comes through. We all hide behind the table, me still clutching the flask of pink liquid. He goes to one of the benches and frowns. "Bill?" he calls. "Did you move the sulphur?"

So it is sulphur. I was right.

Another familiar man comes into the room and sighs. "Have you lost the sulphur already, Dimitri?"

"No, that's why I asked you if you moved it," Dimitri snaps. "Don't treat me like an idiot."

I turn to my friends and whisper, "Pinky and I will take the bigger guy. Peter and Terry, you two get the other one. On my mark."

"Hey, I'm just being cautious," Dimitri is saying. "Maybe I left it in the other room."

"Now," I hiss.

Terry and Peter leap out and tackle Dimitri. Pinky and I dive for Bill. Pinky grabs his legs and makes him fall over while I grab his shirt collar and raise my fist.

"You have five seconds to start talking," I snarl. "Three and a half years ago, you stole a baby platypus from my mate. _Where is he?"_

Bill actually laughs. "You took your time."

I slap Bill hard across the face. "I am _not_ in a joking mood! TELL ME WHERE MY SON IS!"

Bill grins and says nothing.

"Bill, just tell him," comes Dimitri's voice.

We all look over at Dimitri. Terry and Peter are both holding one of his arms. He says, "Please, just tell him. I'm tired of keeping this secret."

"I won't tell," snaps Bill. "I've kept this secret for three and a half years, I'm not about to tell it now."

"Then I will," says Dimitri defiantly.

Bill glares at him. "Don't you dare."

I motion to Terry and Peter to let him go. They come over to Bill and hold him in place while I go over to Dimitri and grab his sleeve.

"I want immunity," Dimitri says. "Immunity from the law on this matter. I tell you everything I know, I don't get arrested or charged."

"Deal," I say immediately. "Now tell me what Project Newborn is."

Dimitri opens his mouth but Bill shouts, "Don't you dare! I'll murder you!"

I don't even have to signal. Peter takes hold of a metal tray and hits Bill on the head with it, knocking him out. I look back at Dimitri, who nods.

"Project Newborn was all about implanting bionic chips into newborn animals, giving them automatic human qualities that you take years to train to achieve." Dimitri gestures towards me. "It also gives them special abilities."

"You mean like powers?" I ask. "For want of a better term: superpowers?"

Dimitri nods. "Exactly. We call them Bionics because their abilities are implanted into them via a bionic chip."

"Are all the abilities different?" I ask.

Dimitri nods. "Yes, we designed each chip to be unique."

"Does the chip affect the genetics?" asks Terry from the other side of the room. "If a Bionic has children, will the power be transferred?"

"Even if a Bionic reproduces with a non-Bionic, it's almost one hundred percent likelihood," replies Dimitri. "If two Bionics reproduced, the child would most likely inherit a combination of his or her parents' bionic abilities."

"Wait, there are more Bionics?" I ask. "I thought it was just one?"

"No," sighs Dimitri. "There are more than one."

"How many?" I demand.

"…twenty."

"So you snatched _twenty_ innocent newborns from their mothers?" I snarl.

Dimitri looks sadly down at the ground. "Yes," he says quietly. "A fact that I am not proud of."

"Oh no…" I have just remembered something. "So all those females that were going missing three and a half years ago…that was _you?"_

Dimitri nods.

"Even my daughter?" snarls Peter.

"Your daughter…?"

"A white female panda."

"Oh…yes. The surgeons had to give her an emergency C-Section but…there was a mistake. You saw the scar on her stomach?"

"You mean…!"

Peter starts aggressively forward but Terry takes hold of Peter's arm and holds him back. "Pete, please don't get angry."

"DON'T GET ANGRY?" bellows Peter. "IT'S THIS GUY'S FAULT THAT MY DAUGHTER IS SCARRED AND CAN'T HAVE ANY MORE CHILDREN!"

Dimitri looks very sad. "I'm so sorry. I was out at the time…if I had known, I would have made sure they were supervised."

"YOU MEAN THE SURGEONS WEREN'T EVEN SUPERVISED?" bellows Peter.

"Pete, I get that you're furious, but I need you to calm down!" I shout at my friend. "Please, we need to find out what happened!"

"I'll bring some breakable things and a baseball bat over to your house later," offers Pinky.

Peter takes a deep breath and says, "Fine."

I turn back to Dimitri. "So where are they all?"

"In the next room in this facility."

At my signal, Pinky comes over to watch Dimitri while I quickly rush through the door into the next room. It's fairly big, with a wall of cages on one side, stacked in top of each other. There are four rows and five columns of cages, all of which hold a young animal.

Oh wait, I'm wrong. There's one empty one, the third one in the bottom row.

All the animals inside look asleep. I quickly scan through all the cages, hoping I'll see my son.

But the only platypus I see is a very light pink platypus who is obviously female.

I do see a grey panda, though. I quietly open the cage and take out the sleeping panda. I can tell it's a male. As soon as he is brought out of the cage, he stirs and wakes up. He sees me and panics slightly.

"It's okay, it's okay."

I feel myself rocking the panda gently until he relaxes.

"Wh-who are you?" asks the panda quietly.

"I'm Perry. What's your name?"

"I…I wasn't given a name," says the panda.

Something in my heart breaks. Still carrying the panda, I storm angrily through the door and confront Dimitri. "You didn't even give them names?" I yell.

Dimitri hesitates. "It…it was Bill's idea…he didn't want anyone to get too attached to them."

I pause. "When does the special power kick in?"

"At age three," replies Dimitri.

I hand the grey panda to Peter, who almost has a panic attack over the baby, and turn back to Dimitri. "Where's my son?"

"A platypus?"

"Not the light pink platypus in there, but…I don't know his fur colour. It would have started out light blue."

Dimitri hesitates and looks away. That makes me nervous. "Dimitri, _where is my son?"_

"He's not here," says a sardonic voice.

I turn to look at Bill, who is leaning against the wall, recovering from the blow. "Then where is he?" I snap.

"He didn't survive," Bill spits. "He's dead."

…

 **I've used this a lot recently but… dun DUN DUUUUN!**


	4. Healing Wounds

**This is probably the longest chapter I have ever written XD**

…

 **Peter's POV**

Perry staggers backwards like he's been punched in the stomach. "Wh-what?"

"He died when we tried to implant the chip." Bill looks very satisfied to tell Perry this. "Over two years ago."

Perry looks incredibly shocked. He looks across at Dimitri, who has his head bowed. "Is it true?"

Dimitri nods sadly. "I'm so sorry."

I turn away to give Perry some time with his shock and grief. I look down at the small grey panda in my arms. This is my grandson. My first grandson.

He looks up at me. "Who are you?"

"I'm your grandfather," I smile. "Peter."

"I don't have a name," states the small panda quietly.

"Don't worry, I'll get you home to your mother, and she can name you."

"Home? Mother?"

"Yes," I reply, though my thoughts are elsewhere.

When Kimi was found, she told us that she had tripped and fell onto a sharp stone, which had cut her abdomen. She claimed that she had never met her baby. But now…there is no way she couldn't have met this baby. Not with this new information.

I almost miss Terry putting his paw on Perry's shoulder. "We need to get the rest of these animals out of here."

He shoots a look at Dimitri, as if daring the scientist to argue. He doesn't.

…

 **Perry's POV**

We take the twenty animals to an empty house in Bodicote. We somehow avoid anybody seeing us. We sneak out several translators and give them to all the Bionics.

Pinky goes to get Priya, Peter goes to get Kimi, and Terry and I begin to write down the names and abilities of the Bionics.

The first one is the light pink platypus. "I'm Anke," she says. "I don't know why, but the name just stuck in my head."

Some of these animals remember the names their parents give them, I realise. I wonder if Hermes ever remembered his name.

"And what can you do?" I ask, writing her name down.

"I can create barriers to protect people," she replies. "I don't know what they're called."

I write down _creates forcefields._

We have an array of powers, from manipulating the weather to shooting energy blasts.

The two most memorable cases, apart from Anke and the grey panda, are two very rare phoenixes called Lateysha and Noah, a girl and boy respectively. The former has the power of intangibility (changing density) and the latter has the power of energy blasts. They told me that they are already mates, though Lateysha specifically said they wouldn't have kids until they were at least eight years old. While I didn't really need to know that, it was comforting to hear that happiness could be found even in the darkest of times.

At one point, I hear Priya's voice yelling and Pinky's voice trying to calm her down. Then Kimi runs into the room, her red scar still visible on her abdomen. I go to meet her and gently keep her at the door. "Kimi, are you okay?"

"I want to see my baby!" Kimi shouts.

"Kim, calm down." I put my paws on her shoulders like she's my own daughter. "What happened to you? Really?"

"I…" She hesitates. "I was captured by two men who took my baby. I didn't want a fuss to be made."

"And the scar?"

She hesitates again. "Caesarean section gone wrong. I don't blame anybody for that, it must have been very hard for any doctor to operate on a panda when they're used to operating on humans."

I give her a reassuring smile. "I think you're ready to meet your baby. Did you give him a name?"

She slowly nods.

"Okay."

I take Kimi's arm and gently lead her over to the grey panda, who is sitting by the window. The small panda looks up at Kimi and asks, "Are you my mommy?"

Kimi gasps and covers her mouth with her paw. I nudge her and she nods, tears falling down her face. "I am," she stammers. "I am your mommy, and I love you so much, Adrian."

The grey panda's face lights up in a big smile. "Is that my name?"

Kimi grabs Adrian under his arms and brings him in for a massive hug. "Yes!" Kimi gasps. "Your name is Adrian; I am your mother, Kimi; you're home now; and I love you so, so, so much."

Both Kimi and Adrian are crying now. Feeling incredibly happy yet also incredibly sad, I go back to the notebook I left on the side and check Adrian's power. It says _healing_.

Then I see Priya come through the door. I walk slowly up to my mate and open my beak, but she gets there first. "Pinky updated me on the situation," she says. "But he didn't say where Hermes is."

I feel a tear dropping down my face. "Priy, he didn't survive. Hermes is dead."

Priya stares at me. "N-no…!" she whispers. "Please…tell me it's not true!"

"They tried to put in the chip when he was one but he didn't survive…I'm so sorry…" I croak, crying openly now.

Priya suddenly tips backwards. I leap behind her and catch her. She hasn't quite passed out, but she falls out of my arms and hits the floor. She curls up in a ball and begins crying loudly. I put my arms around her but she shrugs me off. "Go away."

I feel a paw on my shoulder. Terry leads me away from my distressed mate. "Just give her some time," he says quietly.

I nod and wipe away my tears. "Okay."

 **Pinky's POV**

I'm outside on my own. I feel sad for Perry and Priya, even though I have no idea what pain they're going through.

I happen to turn to the left and see a small platypus staring up at the house. As I approach, I see that the platypus is male and about three years old. He has brown fur, and for a moment I think he's Ohio, Perry's deceased friend.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"E-excuse me, where am I?"

"You're in Bodicote, the OWCA village."

"OWCA?" repeats the small platypus.

"Oh, the Organisation Without A Cool Acronym."

The platypus pauses. "I-I'm looking for someone to help me. I don't have any parents."

"How old are you?" I ask.

"Three and a half years old," he replies.

I stare at him. That's the same age as…

Oh my God.

 **Perry's POV**

Someone taps me on the shoulder. "Excuse me?"

I turn round and see Anke there. "What's your name?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm Perry."

"Perry. Are you the father of my friend Matty?"

I stare down at her. "Your friend Matty?"

"He somehow knew that that wasn't his real name," she tells me. "I met him on my third birthday. I remember that because he told me he was the same age I was then. We were talking, and I found out that he didn't remember his real name but he called himself Matty. He was the only other platypus in the facility, so I thought it must be your son."

"Wait…!" I kneel down in front of Anke and look her in the eyes. "Did you say you met when you were both three?"

Anke nods.

"But…Bill said he died when he was one," I say in confusion.

Anke also looks confused. "Well, that isn't right. I saw him just a few weeks ago, but then he disappeared. I heard Bill talking and they said he had somehow got out."

"Got out? You mean…he's alive?"

"He didn't say Matty had died," Anke frowns. "So I guess he is alive."

"But…then…Bill lied to me!" I hiss. "And Dimitri did too!"

"Actually," Anke pipes up. "I don't think Dimitri knew."

"What?"

"When I heard Bill, he was muttering to himself about "that bloody platypus" and "how did he manage to get out". I don't think he actually told Dimitri the truth. Frankly, I'd be embarrassed to admit it to anyone."

My heart leaps. "He's alive! I have to go tell Priya." I set off running but a moment later I go back and hug Anke. "Thank you so much!"

Anke beams as she hugs me back. "No problem."

I rush over to Priya, who is lying in exactly the same position, and tap her on the shoulder. "Go away," she mumbles.

"Priy, Hermes is alive!"

She rolls over and stares at me. "What?"

"Anke just told me! Bill lied to me when he said Hermes was dead, apparently he escaped! He's still out there, Priya! He's alive!"

Priya leaps up. "Really?"

I nod eagerly. Priya laughs excitedly and throws her arms around my neck. I swing her around, both of us laughing.

 **Priya's POV**

Then Pinky bursts into the room. We both turn and look at him, the smiles still on our faces. Those smiles quickly fade when we see how urgent Pinky looks. "You're really going to want to see this," he pants. "Both of you."

Perry and I exchange a look and follow Pinky out the door. We exit the house and rush out into the sunshine. "What is it?" I ask.

Pinky points to where a young, brown-furred platypus is standing, gazing up at the sky. Neither of us recognise him, though the first thought I have is that he looks a lot like Ohio.

Then I approach him slowly. He spots me and comes to meet me. "Is everything okay?" I ask.

"I-I don't know what to do," confesses the platypus. "I don't know my real name, I never knew my parents, I have nowhere to go, and I just escaped a facility where some bad people gave me this scary power that I'm afraid to use."

Perry and I stare at him. "What colour does teal added with purple make?" I whisper to nobody in particular.

"Brown," Perry whispers, also not really to anyone in particular.

He looks up at me. "A-are you my parents?" he asks.

I kneel down in front of him and gently stroke his cheek.

"You're my mom…!" gasps the platypus. "I've seen you before in my dream! I always had this image of a purple platypus…and that's you!"

I start crying, and the platypus does too. He leaps at me and hugs me around my neck. I hug him back. Perry comes on his other side and hugs him from behind so that our son is in the middle.

"What's my name?" comes my little son's voice in my ear.

"Hermes," I choke. "Your name is Hermes. Oh, I love you so much. You're safe now. You're safe and loved."

All the suffering I've endured since I got pregnant nearly four years ago just melts away. I'm finally reunited with my son.

 **Perry's POV**

All those years of searching has finally paid off. I can't believe it. I actually can't believe it!

Hermes is home.

…

 ***squeals* wasn't this chapter a rollercoaster of emotions?**

 **Also: ANKE! Again, if you haven't read Army of One, that's not going to make much sense XD XD**

 **Also also: the idea for Hermes's reunion with his parents was given to me by Nightflame203**


	5. Training part 1 of 2

**FLASH! We are now two and a half years into the future :) no, seriously. This chapter is two and a half years after the last one.**

…

 **Hermes's POV**

My earliest memory is a flash of my mother, a purple platypus.

From then on, all I remember is frightening experiments where they strapped me down and cut holes in me and sewed them up again after implanting things in me.

My only friend during that time was Anke. Nobody else even talked to each other, but Anke and I were close friends. I called myself "Matty" when I was around her, but I knew that wasn't my real name.

I didn't understand what they were doing to me until I was three, and I found that I could levitate objects. Dad—I'll never get tired of saying "Mom" and "Dad"—says it's called telekinesis. He says with some practising, I can not only lift objects, but manipulate them, crush them, and throw them.

I must say, that does sound quite exciting, because I hated my power at first. I couldn't control it. I could be talking to Anke one time, and then suddenly she would start to fly. And it could be hours before I manage to make my power put her down.

Meeting my family was amazing. I have three siblings: Teddy, Hazel, and Quinn. Technically I have two more: Piper and Parker, though they are Teddy's mate and Hazel's mate respectively.

Then there are Paige, Athena, Cody, and Austin, my nieces and nephews. They just call me "Hermes", not "Uncle Hermes" or anything like that. Because I think of them almost as siblings, since we're so close in age. And I'm about to have a new niece or nephew; my sibling Hazel is pregnant for the second time. Parker has not come to the office since finding that out.

Half a year ago, something bad happened. Fifteen of the twenty Bionics left in the night. They weren't kidnapped; they just left. Usually agents begin their training at age four, but we were told a while ago by Major Monogram that training shouldn't start until we're five, just to give us a little more "room", as he put it. Perhaps that's why they left; after all, we haven't been allowed to use our powers, and beforehand, they were talking about how restless they were, not doing anything with their powers. Anyway, nobody has any idea where they went and we haven't seen them since.

I was three and a half years old when I finally found out who I am. Now I'm five years old and I am adjusting to life in my new family.

…

Training begins today.

Dad has brought in a friend of his, Diana Fay, who has special powers of her own. She's going to help us hone our abilities.

The only five left are me, Anke, Adrian, Lateysha, and Noah. The two phoenixes and I aren't exactly friends yet; the reason for this is because they've mostly stuck together for the last two and a half years.

We're in the gym, which has been specifically cleared for this purpose. Diana, a brown-haired woman, is standing in front of the line of us.

She claps her hands together. "Right, everyone. My name is Diana, and I'll be teaching you how to control your powers. Of course, my own abilities are not exactly the same as yours. In fact, if I recall correctly, I can't even do any of the things that you can do. But I do have experience in controlling abilities that no-one else has, so Major Monogram believed I was the best person for the job. Anyway, today I'll be helping you take your powers to the next step. There won't be a massive difference today, but hopefully by the end of at least the week, if not the day, you'll be able to do something new with your abilities. Any questions?"

Adrian puts his paw in the air. "How am I going to practise my healing?" he asks.

Diana points at him. "Good question, Adrian. As it happens, there was a training accident yesterday and about a dozen agents have various minor injuries. I have special permission from Apollo to let you into the hospital bay and practise your healing abilities on them."

Adrian fist-pumped the air. "Yes! I've always wanted to meet Apollo!"

"Any other questions?" Diana asks, an amused smile on her face.

The rest of us shake our heads.

"Then I will come around and get each of you started while the rest begin practising."

We split off spaces. Diana goes off to take Adrian to the hospital wing.

Because my telekinesis power is just levitation at the moment, I have a single wooden box to practise on. I lift it up with no problem. As Diana says when she comes round to me a few minutes later, my task is to try and throw it.

"Hold your hand like this," she says, holding her hand by her shoulder as if she's about to throw a shot putt.

I copy the movement but my focus wavers and the crate falls to the floor with a crash sound.

"Don't focus on me, focus on the crate," Diana instructs. "Lift it up and keep your eyes on it as you put your hand in the position I showed you."

I keep my eyes firmly on the crate as I lift it up and move my hand into the position. I don't take my eyes off the crate, not even when Diana instructs me, "Now make a movement as if you're throwing your shot putt."

I do so. The crate doesn't move. I turn to look at Diana and grimace as I hear another crashing sound. "It didn't work," I say.

"I know," Diana replies. "You have to imagine yourself holding the crate in your hand, if it'd fit. Imagine you're throwing the crate using your hand instead of your power."

I lift the crate yet again and copy the position. I close my eyes and imagine the crate in my hand. Then I throw my invisible shot putt. I hear a crashing sound and hope that I haven't just dropped the thing again.

I open one eye and see the crate lying on the other side of the room. I turn excitedly to Diana, who gives me a wink and a thumbs up. "That's really good, Hermes. Keep practising."

…

 **Part 2 of the training session is coming next!**


	6. Training part 2 of 2

**Part 2 :)**

…

 **Anke's POV**

I haven't been able to practise my ability so far because I'm scared of turning the training thing on.

I have never made a proper forcefield before. I've made a barrier before, and sometimes wisps, but never a proper forcefield.

The training thing is a sinister-looking robot with a laser gun. I've been too scared of turning it on, but when Diana comes up to me, she encourages me.

"There's two modes," she tells me. "Harmless and laser. Harmless emits just a light which will bounce off a forcefield in the same way as a real laser, which is the second mode. Laser emits a…well…a laser. A pretty harmful laser, so we're only going to use that mode when you're ready."

I nod nervously.

Diana switches on harmless mode and gets ready to fire the machine. "Ready?"

I lower myself slightly and hold out my paws. Diana flicks on the machine and a light comes flying out of it. I try my best but no forcefield appears from my hands.

We try again and again and again but I just can't get it. I stamp my foot in frustration. Then a wooden crate flies just a few inches over my head and crashes into the machine. I whirl round and see a sheepish-looking Hermes. "Sorry," he calls. "My bad."

With a slightly disapproving look, Diana checks that the machine isn't broken, before Hermes levitates the crate away from us.

Just as Diana flicks on the machine, she suddenly yells, "IT'S ON LASER MODE!"

I scream and throw up my hands to protect myself. I hear a horrible firing noise and I screw my eyes shut, expecting to feel heat burning me.

But it doesn't. Instead, I hear Diana whisper quite loudly, "Don't move!"

I slowly open my eyes and see six red lasers spouting from my hands. I blink in confusion. My vision gets into perspective, and I see that I have created a forcefield around myself. The laser has hit the forcefield and bounced off in six different directions. I can't stop a short laugh as I fully realise that I have done it.

I've done it!

Diana hurriedly switches off the machine and rushes over to me. "Are you okay?" she asks worriedly.

I nod. "I'm fine. But how did laser mode even get turned on?"

"The crate must have hit the switch."

We both turn and look at Hermes, who has been watching. He grins sheepishly. "S-sorry."

"Be more careful next time, Hermes," chides Diana. "Anke could have been badly hurt."

"Sorry, Anke," says Hermes quietly.

I bound over to Hermes and hug him. After a moment, he hugs me back. "It's okay!" I say brightly. "We all make mistakes. And thanks to you, I made a forcefield!"

"Yay!" shouts Hermes, swinging me round.

 **Lateysha's POV**

Noah and I are helping each other with our training.

At the moment, I can only phase through floors and pop back up again. I can't phase through walls or items yet, and the latter is what Noah is helping me work on.

While I was practising, Noah snuck off to the toilet and came back with several new toilet paper roles because, and I quote, "They're soft but throwable."

Ten minutes later, I'm feeling frustrated. I've been hit by a loo roll in pretty much every place you can imagine, and I haven't phased through any of them.

I'm on the verge of tears when Noah comes up to me and hugs me tenderly. "It's okay," he says. "You want to work on mine and see some of those pesky loo rolls get blasted?"

"Yes please," I say rather forcefully.

I line up six toilet rolls on the side of the trampoline. To his credit, Noah manages to not hit the trampoline with his energy blasts, but each time he only hits about four of the six on the first shot.

Then I get a rather risky idea.

I pick up a toilet roll and go to my best friend. "I have an idea," I tell him. I walk backwards until I'm the same distance away from Noah as the trampoline was, and I hold up my hand palm up with the toilet roll balancing on it. "Hit the toilet roll."

"Are you crazy?" gasps Noah. "I could hit you!"

"Then try not to." I give him a grin, though I'm feeling nervous inside. But if he can do this, he can do anything.

It takes a while for him to build up the courage, but when he does, he lets out an energy blast from his right hand, which blasts the toilet roll right off my hand. It comes very close to burning me, but my hand doesn't get hurt. I cheer and throw myself at my future mate. "That was amazing! See, you _can_ do it!"

"Then you can do yours too," encourages Noah. "Want to try again?"

I pause. "Okay. But how about you shoot at me with one of your energy blasts?"

"What?" Noah gasps. "But that could kill you!"

"Only if I don't phase out of the way in time," I say. Again I'm grinning, but again I'm terrified inside. "You saw it yourself. The only way is to raise the stakes."

"But…" He trails off. "I-I can't…"

I take his hands. "I believe in you."

He shakes his head. "If that light hits you, it'll kill you. No offense, but I don't want to risk your life on an ability that you haven't perfected yet."

 **Hermes's POV**

"If I may," I begin, coming up to my friends. "I'm sorry for eavesdropping but perhaps I could throw a crate at Lateysha? It wouldn't kill her if it hit her but it would hurt a little more than a loo roll. Wouldn't that be upping the stakes enough without upping them too much?"

Lateysha and Noah glance at each other. "That seems reasonable," says Lateysha. "Noah?"

The other phoenix nods. "You won't throw it too hard, will you?"

"Not lethal force, no," I answer. "Of course not. Just hard enough to hurt."

Lateysha gets into position. I go opposite her and levitate the wooden crate. "Ready?" I call.

She nods.

I put my hand in the position Diana showed me and throw the crate towards her. As the crate approaches, you can see the concentration in her face.

 **Lateysha's POV**

I close my eyes as I focus on what I know: even though it won't kill me, I don't want to be hit by the crate. With that thought cemented in my mind, I imagine myself passing through the box and emerging unharmed on the other side.

Which is what happens.

When I open my eyes, I find myself unharmed. I look behind me and see the crate lying on the floor a few metres away.

Noah cheers, grabs me, and swings me around, both of us laughing excitedly.

"I did it!"

"Yes you did," grins Hermes.

"Thanks for your help," I say to my friend. "Really."

He holds up a hand. "It's okay. I "helped" Anke so it's only right I help you."

He turns and walks away.

Noah puts me down and we hold each other, looking into each other's eyes. Then it happens. We finally have our first kiss.

Even though I'm only five years old, I know I want to spend the rest of my life with Noah.

 **Hermes's POV**

I smile as I look at Noah and Lateysha together. I really like them. They're amazing, and they're clearly the perfect couple.

Diana calls us all together again. "Okay, guys," she says. "It's time to stop for today."

All of a sudden, Adrian bursts into the room in tears. He runs over to Anke and me, and I clutch his shoulders. "Adrian, what's wrong?"

"They hate me!" Adrian sobs. "I only got to heal one person because everyone else saw my abilities and called me a freak and didn't let me near them!"

Anke pulls him into a hug. I step back and look across at Diana, who is looking angry.

Looks like it's going to take a while for people to fully trust our abilities. First, they have to get used to us being in, and especially using our powers in, OWCA HQ.

…

 **The discrimination does not stop here :( but that's the whole point of the story XD**


	7. More Than One Kind Of Love

**It might get a bit complicated in this chapter, with everyone having more children during the five year period between Priya's Pain and now XD most new characters are accounted for in this chapter, though.**

…

 **Hermes's POV**

After training is over, Anke and I decide to go visit the trainees. Not the BTs, the Basic Trainees (agents who are doing their basic training); the younger ones. The kids who aren't quite old enough to do their basic training, but who want to get a head start on training, like my cousins: Felise and Hughie.

As soon as we leave the gym, Agent Calvin the Cat walks by. I give him a smile but he narrows his eyes at us as if we're going to attack him. I sigh as he disappears round the corner. "People are never going to trust us."

"Give them time," Anke says. "We've only just started our training here. Sure, we've been around for almost three years now, but this is the first time we're actually using our powers around other agents. It's all really new to them."

"I guess…"

We head to the special training gym for agents who are before or in the middle of their basic training. There are only about ten kids, all of them between two and four years old. I spot my cousins, Felise and Hughie, sparring in the ring. Well, it isn't quite sparring. They're not using any kind of proper moves: they're mostly wrestling each other viciously.

Felise and Hughie are the twin children of my aunt, Sora, and her mate, Jolyon. Yes, my sister Hazel's former love interest Jolyon. Turns out they're only two years apart in age. It seems weird to some people but Hazel is the one who has the most reason to be weirded out, and she is absolutely fine with it, so that means I'm fine with it. They have two children together: Felise and Hughie. Twins. Very rare.

(Let me explain egg-laying mammals' twins. If the twins come from two different eggs laid at the same time, then they won't be identical. If the twins are born from the same egg—which will be an egg about one and a half times the size of a normal egg—then the twins will be identical).

Anyway, they're not identical because they didn't come from the same egg. Felise has Jolyon's black fur colour and Hughie has Perry's teal fur, though I'm sure he really inherited it from his grandfather Patrick, who's also my grandfather. That makes me feel weird: my older brother Teddy is fourteen years older than his cousins, whereas I'm only three years older than Felise and Hughie.

Anyway, Anke and I stand at a safe distance away and watch their fight.

After a minute, Hughie yelps and scuttles backwards, looking extremely offended. "Did you just bite me?" he demands.

Felise puts on an innocent face that may or may not be genuine. "No…?"

Hughie glares at his sister. "You did!"

Felise sticks her tongue out at Hughie. "You shouldn't have pulled my tail. You know I don't like my tail being pulled."

"That's no excuse!" snaps Hughie.

Felise is about to retort when she catches sight of me. "Hermes!"

She scrambles out of the ring and wraps her arms around my waist. I chuckle and hug her back, when Hughie runs at me and does the same thing. I hug my cousins tightly.

"Hermes, Felise bit me!" Hughie complains, the second he pulls away.

Felise wraps her arms around my waist again, protectively this time, and sticks her tongue out again at Hughie. "Let it go, already."

Hughie pouts. "I'm going to play with Austin."

Austin is the third child of Teddy and Piper. His older sisters are Paige and Athena, who are both doing their basic training, along with Lokie, Luke and Kimi's eldest, Adrian's older sister; and Cody, Hazel and Parker's eldest. In fact, Paige and Lokie are halfway through their basic training, whereas Cody and Athena only started last year.

Felise scoffs. "Good luck with that. Austin's gonna kick your butt."

"I didn't say I was going to fight him," Hughie snaps. "You're mean."

He storms off in the direction of the platypus. Felise takes my hand and pulls me towards the trampoline. Anke follows.

"Wanna see the trick I learnt?"

"Okay," I smile.

The two-year-old platypus climbs up onto the trampoline and begins bouncing softly. After about ten bounces, she does a seat drop, a half twist, and another seat drop, AKA the move known as swivel hips. Even I could do that, and I've had about three lessons on the trampoline. However, considering she's only two years old, it's pretty impressive.

Anke and I clap as the proud platypus takes a bow.

And promptly tumbles right off the trampoline.

I instinctively reach out, and Felise stops in mid-air. I realise that I have automatically used my powers. Felise begins to thrash around, so I gently lower her to the ground.

There is silence in the gym. I look awkwardly round and see that everyone is staring at me, from the two adult agents overseeing the training session, to the trainees themselves. Their facial expressions range from suspicion to shock.

The only two people looking at me in a positive way are Hughie and Austin, who both look like their favourite ever person has just given them candy.

 **Anke's POV**

I protectively link arms with Hermes and shoot the room a glare, daring anybody to speak badly of my future mate (okay, I know it's a bit early for that, but Lateysha and Noah realised their love at age two, so I'm being optimistic).

Nobody speaks.

Hermes's niece, Felise, is giving Hermes a sympathetic look. "Don't worry," she says, filling the silence. "They're just jealous because you're cool and you're a superhero."

I almost laugh at this two-year-old's logic. However, it does break the mood. The buzz of conversation returns, and within ten seconds, the incident has been all but forgotten.

Felise leaps up and rushes over to her twin brother, Hughie, who immediately begins telling Austin the story of how Felise bit him. I chuckle and turn back to Hermes, who looks a little spooked.

"Let's get some air," I suggest.

I gently lead him towards the door. When we get out the gym, we rest in the corridor. _I_ feel less stuffy, but I can tell he won't relax until I talk sense into him.

"It's okay, Hermes," I say. "Like I said, they have to get used to us using our powers around them."

"They were looking at me like I just used my powers to hurt someone," Hermes says quietly. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that."

"You don't have to," I promise. "They'll get used to us and our powers, I promise."

"But you can't promise that," Hermes sighs. "That's our dilemma. Even if they do acclimatise to our powers, who's to say they will ever wholly trust us?" He pauses. "What?"

I realise I'm staring at him. I blush and look away. "Sorry, it's just that you used a smart-sounding word."

"What, "acclimatise"? It means the same as "get used to"."

"I know. I meant dilemma," I joke. "Does that mean "problem" or have I been using that word wrong my whole life?"

Hermes grins and nudges me. "That was a pretty pathetic attempt at humour."

"I know," I say again. "But I got you to smile."

Hermes chuckles and looks down at the ground. There's a pause, before he looks sideways at me and says, "I'm not sure I'll be able to get through this without you, Anke. You've been amazing so far: reassuring me when I'm in doubt, and helping me feel better when I'm down. You've been doing that since we were three years old."

I nod and also stare down at the ground. "Yeah, well, you do everything you can for the person you love."

I can feel Hermes's eyes on me, and I can tell I made the wrong decision to tell him that. I don't want to ruin our friendship because of it, so I quickly add, "I don't want you to comment on that now. It's way too early for love and mates and stuff. Pretend it never happened."

Hermes pauses. I sneak a glance at him and find him staring at the ceiling. I watch him as he then looks back at me. "Maybe it's too early for a mate, but how about for a boyfriend?"

My heart stands still. "Is this your weird way of asking me out?"

A lopsided, boyish grin appears on Hermes's face. "Maybe." Then his face grows serious. "But seriously, we're going to stick with each other until we finish our training anyway. Why not make it official?"

My smile slowly grows into a beam. "I…"

"Will you be my girlfriend?" Hermes decides to put it into words.

I can't quite form the words so I simply say, "Y-yes. I will."

This is the happiest I have ever been in my entire life, far surpassing the joy I had felt when I successfully made a forcefield for the first time earlier today, which used to be in first place.

First stop: couple.

Second stop: mates?

I've always wanted to be a mother.

…

 **As said by a good friend of mine on several occasions: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!**

 **XD you know who you are XD**

 **But seriously, those of you who read Army Of One and saw that Perry and Anke were together, obviously you know that that can't happen in this story ;P but here's the next best thing :)**


	8. Struggle

**Author's Note: there will be some mild swearing in this chapter, just the word "crap". Thought I'd better warn you.**

…

 **Anke's POV**

We've just gone outside onto the lawn when a light-blonde-haired woman comes up to us. She's dressed in a short-sleeved, knee-length blue dress with a white belt, white tights, and black pumps. I don't recognise her.

"Sorry, but are you Hermes?" she asks in a very stark New Zealand accent.

Hermes nods. "Yes, that's me."

"Oh, great." The woman holds out her hand. "My name is Jayne Walker, I've been in charge of training the BTs for the last seven years now."

Hermes shakes Jayne's hand. "This is my girlfriend, Anke."

I give Jayne a lukewarm smile. For some reason, I don't like her. Maybe it's the slightly distrusting look in her eye, or the fact that she has a stunner (a type of gun that shoots stun pellets only) strapped to her belt when none of the other staff do.

"Truth is, I could do with your help," Jayne says to Hermes.

I don't like the sound of this.

"You have the ability to levitate objects, correct?"

I _really_ don't like the sound of this.

"Yes, that's right," Hermes replies.

"Well, I'm about to move my group of BTs onto the hundred foot climbing wall, the one with no harnesses or proper handholds. And some of my trainees are…shall we say…a bit too enthusiastic. I'm worried they might try to go too fast or too high when they're not ready, so I wanted to ask you if you could stand at the base of the wall and catch anyone who falls or help anyone who gets stuck. Would that be okay?"

I fold my arms and narrow my eyes. "And what exactly would you have done if Hermes didn't have this very convenient power?"

Jayne gives me a surprised look, as if she can't understand why I'm acting like this. Hermes nudges me perceptibly. "It's all right, Anke," he says pointedly. "I'll do it."

Jayne smiles. "Thank you. I believe the group of recruits also includes your nieces, Paige and Lokie."

"So it's the older group?"

"Yes, but not the old _est_ group, which your older sister Quinn would have been in. That group is graduating early next year. I don't know why Quinn decided not to join OWCA, but she was clearly quite skilled."

 **Hermes's POV**

Why _did_ Quinn choose not to join OWCA? Literally everybody else in my family is in OWCA, so why is she not?

I put the thought to the back of my mind and follow Jayne across the lawn. Anke trails moodily after me. I give her a look and say, "You know, I'm not as oblivious as Teddy was when he took ages to figure out that Piper has a crush on him. I know you don't like Jayne. Why? She's nice."

"She always has her eye on that stunner of hers," Anke replies sullenly. "And even when she was asking for your help—or rather, your powers' help—she had a distrusting, almost scared, look in her eye."

"What's new there?" I ask. "She's just being cautious."

"She's annoying the hell out of me," Anke grumbles. "I'm going to stay as far away as possible from her."

"You don't have to come," I point out. "She only asked for me."

Even as I say it, I realise that that's part of the problem. Anke is just as capable at stopping a falling BT as me, but Jayne asked only for me. Part of Anke's problem with Jayne is probably a kind of bitterness because the latter only asked for my help. I'm just glad Jayne is human, because I really do _not_ need to constantly remind Anke that _she_ is my girlfriend, and nobody else.

"I can't leave you alone with that woman."

"Anke, you barely know her. At least refrain judgement until you know her better."

"Fine."

We get to the climbing wall. There's a group of about a dozen BTs standing around the base. Straight away, I see a purple-furred platypus and light yellow-furred platypus standing together: Paige and Lokie. They're both six years old now, but neither of them have lost the personalities I saw in them when they were three. Paige is feisty and confident, and Lokie is cunning and mischievous, just like her namesake.

We watch as Jayne explains the task, and then Paige and Lokie and a dog BT line up at the base of the climbing wall.

 **Lokie's POV**

As soon as Jayne shouts "go!" I set off.

I'm not as fast as Paige, who has already overtaken both me and Pedro the Dog, but I try my hardest. I'm not quite scared of heights, but I am scared of falling, so I try not to look down. It's the most obvious thing in the world for someone afraid of either heights or falling, but sometimes the simplest task is the hardest.

I look down.

I immediately look back up and catch the jeering glance of Pedro as he hangs onto a foothold about two metres up from me.

"Your uncle is a freak," he sneers.

"Hermes is not a freak!" I snap.

I know I shouldn't have risen to it, but I couldn't help it. I hate people who make fun of my friends or family, and I couldn't let an insult pass.

"Then how can he lift stuff using his mind?" jeers Pedro.

Paige has climbed back down. "Are you talking badly about Hermes?" she demands.

"Maybe," grins Pedro.

I continue climbing until I'm ever-so slightly ahead of Pedro. I hear Paige growl, "That's nothing to grin about."

"He's a freak." Pedro sounds jubilant. "Freaks have the ability to do things others can't. And I'll prove it."

Before either of us can react, Pedro digs his claws into my tail and tugs. Not only do I get a massive cut along my tail, but his pull tears my paws off the wall. I scream as I begin my fifty foot drop. Paige reaches out for me but my momentum pulls her off the wall too. We both scream, until we find ourselves hung in mid-air. I twist round and spot Hermes in the centre of the crowd of BTs. His arm and hand are outstretched towards us, and two of the fingers on his other hand are pressed to his temple. He's using his powers to save us, but all I can hear is the chant of, "Freak! Freak!" that's coming from the other BTs.

…

 **Hermes's POV**

As soon as my nieces are safe, I storm off inside, followed closely by Anke, who's almost in tears.

"You saw that, right?" I snap at my girlfriend.

"Yes, Hermes, I saw."

I draw my fist back and hit the wall, unintentionally using my powers, so that a crater appears in the white plaster, but the wall does not fall.

"Lokie isn't even related to me by blood!" I snarl at the wall, which is standing there, mocking me with its insistence to not collapse. "She's my brother's mate's brother's daughter. She's still my niece but she isn't even related to me by blood and she's getting that crap already! God only knows what kind of crap my siblings are getting."

"Hermes, calm down," Anke pleads. "This isn't helping."

I take a deep breath but I can't stop tears of anger coming to my eyes. "I don't care that people hate or distrust me. That's to be expected. Powers like ours are very new and very frightening to other people, I get that. However, it is _not_ acceptable when a relative who _doesn't even have any powers of their own_ is picked on simply for being related to someone with powers! That's unacceptable!" I punch the wall again, creating a smaller crater beside the bigger one. "IT'S UNACCEPTABLE!"

Anke grabs my shoulders, forcibly turns me around, and brings me into a hug. "I know," she whispers. "I know it's horrible. But you just need to accept that this is going to happen and you can't change other people. However, you can make sure that you respond to this prejudice in the proper way, which means staying calm and being non-violent. Okay?"

I take another deep breath and my voice comes out as almost a croak. "Okay."

All of a sudden, a very out of breath hyena comes running up to us, breaking us apart. It's Parker. "You're gonna wanna see this," he pants. "Hazel's laid the egg, except it's not what you think."

Anke and I exchange a look, before we follow Parker across the lawn and towards our house. When we get in, we find Hazel lying on the sofa with a blanket over her. Teddy and Piper are also there. "Did you find Mom and Dad?" Teddy asks Parker.

"No, but I got Hermes," pants Parker. "Oh, and his girlfriend. Sorry, I don't know your name."

Before Anke can tell him her name, Parker runs back out again. "Is Hazel okay?" I ask.

"She's fine," replies Piper. "She's just sleeping. She had a tiring labour."

"So she's laid her egg?"

Teddy and Piper glance at each other. "Yes," replies Teddy slowly. "But...how about you two just go to the incubator and find out for yourselves."

I lead Anke upstairs to the spare room that Apollo and Artemis used to stay in, though they have long since moved out. Now that our family is massive, we have a whole room that houses four incubators. Two are in use, which confuses me. Hazel is the only one who has laid an egg recently. Then I realise as I stare at the two light yellow eggs.

"Twins!" I say aloud. "Hazel's going to have twins!"

…

 **So we finally get to see Lokie! Aaaand that probably wasn't the first appearance you were expecting, was it? Also, what's up with Jayne? Is she hiding something? Or is she just being wary like everyone else? ALSO also, HAZELS HAVING TWINS!**


	9. Let's Party!

**This is going to be a more domestic chapter :)**

…

 **Hermes's POV**

August is known as the "month of the birthdays" in our house, simply because there are so many people with birthdays in August. Firstly there's my aunt Sora on the second of August, then there's me on the sixth, Athena on the eighth, Austin on the sixteenth, Cody on the twentieth, and Adrian on the twenty-third. We generally have a birthday party for everyone on the twenty-fifth of August or thereabouts, which is when everyone has already had their birthdays.

But now Hazel's twins have been born in August too, on the 18th, we've decided to have a party on the day after their actual birth-day, celebrating all of our birthdays, even the ones that haven't happened yet.

The party is in full-swing. It's just for our family, though, which is why we're holding the party in our own backyard. I had no idea our family is so large, but there are almost twenty-five people here, including myself. I haven't seen Mom and Dad in over an hour, but Pearl is drifting in and out, chatting to people. I think she's realised that the only reason everyone is here today is because of her and Patrick.

Anke is here too, since she is my girlfriend. She doesn't really know anyone else, so she is sticking with me, though she's eagerly introducing herself to the other members of my family, so I think she'll be okay.

 **Hazel's POV**

It still hasn't sunk in. I am the mother of twins. This is the second time twins have arrived in our family in two years. Felise and Hughie are delighted to have another pair of twins about the house, even though my kids are only a day old.

Parker has been carrying Kiki around the house and I have been carrying Scotty, so that neither one of us is burdened with both twins, and so that our relatives can meet both kids at some point over the course of the day.

The birthdays we're celebrating are Sora's, Hermes's, Athena's, Austin's, Cody's, and now Scotty and Kiki's. Pearl and Mom have actually managed to bake six cakes, one for each birthday, though they're fairly small. Mom asked me yesterday if it was okay that she made only one cake for the twins to share. I replied that it didn't matter, since the twins aren't old enough to even realise what is going on, let alone be able to eat the cake.

Someone, probably Dad, puts on music. We're treated to PFT songs for the rest of the day. Nobody minds, though. We have a lovely sing-along and dance party, especially when _J-Pop (Welcome To Tokyo)_ comes on. I swear, everyone knows that silly yet very fun dance. Even Scotty is bopping about to the music as if he's dancing. He seems to really like _Summer (Where Do We Begin?)_ , which is also one of my favourites. Perhaps I'll sing it to them as a lullaby.

We don't do birthday presents in our family. It may seem weird, but since we're such a big family, there just isn't time. Instead, on the day of the birthday, we let the birthday boy or girl decide an activity to do for the day, whether that be a day or just playing a board game. That's what we've been doing all this month. Hermes chose to have a movie night with his parents and siblings, probably to get to know us better. Even though it's been nearly three years since he came back to us, I think he still feels like a stranger in our house. I don't blame him; Teddy, Quinn, and I have grown up surrounded by our family. For the first three and a half years of his life, he was simply in a cage 24/7 with nobody to care about or for him. It almost makes me want to cry when I think about it. I'm sure it's a hundred times worse for Mom.

 **Teddy's POV**

Out of me, Hazel, and Quinn, I'd say I know Hermes the least. Since Hazel got pregnant, Hermes had been spending a lot of time getting to know her. And since Quinn also stuck with Hazel around that time, Hermes knows the most about Quinn and Hazel, and they know the most about her. Perhaps it's because I'm eleven years older than Hermes, but I think it's probably something else.

I'm ashamed to say I'm almost scared of Hermes. Whenever he walks past me, I feel a nervous twinge. I know I wouldn't be feeling like this if he didn't have those abnormal abilities. Whenever I even see him, I feel a sudden urge to rush to my children to protect them, which makes me feel awful inside, especially since two weeks ago, Hermes saved both my daughter and my niece from falling off the climbing wall. His actions since coming to OWCA have been nothing but honourable, and yet I still feel a hint of distrust towards my brother. I hate it. I hate it so much.

That's why, when I go outside into our front yard and see my younger brother standing in the sunshine, I force the feeling of anxiety down and I approach him. "Hey," I say.

Hermes turns and spots me. "Hey Teddy."

We both stand together in the sunshine, both of us trying awkwardly to make conversation.

"I've never had a party like this," I say. "My birthday's in December, and the person with the nearest birthday to me is Piper, but she's still nearly two months before me."

"I almost wish we could trade," Hermes says with a small smile. "I don't really like all the attention. I'd prefer a smaller occasion. I guess it's because I'm slightly claustrophobic."

"Seriously? Me too."

"Huh. I would never have pegged you for the claustrophobic type."

I'm not sure if that's an insult or a compliment. I go for asking, "What would you assume I'm scared of?"

His eyes look me over once. "Well, since you never seem to display fear, I'd have said something harmless, like butterflies."

I was not expecting that. I let out a laugh. "Butterflies?"

"Yeah." Hermes seems embarrassed. "It's just that…there are quite a few "tough guys" who never show fear at standard things like fire or death or heights. And they always seem to have a fear of something irrational, like butterflies."

We laugh together. "That's ridiculous," I say.

"I know," agrees Hermes. "But I guess my claustrophobia comes from being locked in a small cage for three and a half years."

I grimace. I hate talking or thinking about Hermes's past, mostly because of the selfish reason that if I do, I start comparing what I've been through with what he's been through, and my past troubles seem extremely dull compared to his. Which I know is both selfish and stupid, but I can't help it.

"Plus," adds Hermes. "I don't like being in crowds, not just because I'm claustrophobic, but because I'm afraid of what will happen if that fear affects my ability to control my power. I'm just worried that I'll accidentally hurt someone with my powers when I get scared in crowds."

"That's understandable," is the only thing I can think of to say.

What else can I say to him when I don't share his problem? I don't share anything even _close_ to his problem! How am I supposed to try and get to know my little brother better when we have virtually nothing in common?

…

 **There's nothing else to say about this chapter, except for: *dramatic voice*** ** _the party's not over yet!_**


	10. An Unexpected Attack

**Author's Note: there will be mentions of blood in this chapter.**

…

 **Anke's POV**

I've been separated from Hermes. I was chatting to Piper and Luke's older brother, and when I realise, I quickly go in search of Hermes. It's not that I feel nervous around his family, it's just that I feel insecure without Hermes around, since he's the only one who understands me and my powers.

I push my way outside and find Hermes standing outside with his older brother. Teddy, I think his name is.

I am just walking towards them when I suddenly see two bright red laser paths heading straight for my boyfriend and his brother. Without thinking about anything, I push my arm out and project a barrier in front of Teddy and Hermes, who both fall to the floor as the laser hits the forcefield. Teddy screams. It's not a powerful laser, but I still have trouble holding my forcefield for more than ten seconds. Luckily, Hermes darts out from beneath the barrier and flicks his hand upwards. The lasers divert course up into space and vanish.

Hermes holds out a hand to Teddy, but the older platypus simply stares at him. I think he's a little afraid.

Hazel and Piper rush out of the house, the former of whom is still holding one of the kids. I think it's the male. Piper throws herself onto her mate. "Teddy, are you okay?" she shrieks.

"I'm fine," Teddy replies quietly. "Honestly. Anke and Hermes saved me."

But I know that the lasers must have come from somewhere. They were fairly close together; that means they most likely came from a pair of eyes. And there's only one person I know who can fire lasers from their eyes.

As I head out into the bushes by the house, I feel someone join me. "Anke?"

"Hermes, do you remember any of our friends who could fire lasers out of her eyes?" I ask.

Hermes thinks for a moment. Then his eyes widen. "Not…not Kate?"

I nod sadly. "That's why I'm looking for-LOOK OUT!"

I pull Hermes to the ground automatically as two red laser beams fly over our heads. If we hadn't moved, they would have pierced our necks.

A moment later, an animal on all fours leaps over us and continues on running. "She's heading for our house!" Hermes gasps.

We scramble to our feet and follow the animal as fast as we can. We can't let her hurt anyone.

When we get back to our front yard, we see a snarling dog on two legs shooting laser beams from her eyes. I can honestly say that I would never have expected to see such a thing.

 **Hermes's POV**

Almost everyone is out in the front yard now, though they're running for shelter. Anke quickly leaps in front of Sora and Jolyon, and projects a forcefield to protect them with one hand and projects another barrier around Quinn, Paige, and Kimi with the other hand. She won't be able to hold them for long.

I see that the dog is now aiming for Hazel and Parker, who are both each clutching one of the twins. Cody is clutching Parker's leg fearfully. Kate is about to attack my sibling and her family. While I am hesitant to use my powers on Kate, I can't let that happen.

I rush in front of my family and hold my arms out to the side, protecting Hazel and her family.

"Get out of the way!" Kate snaps.

"Kate, please, stand down!"

"You don't deserve the right to say my name!" snarls Kate. "Not after you chose to stay with these prejudiced bigots!"

"These "prejudiced bigots" are my family!" I yell back at Kate. "And no matter how much you hate the people who call us freaks, you can't just attack them like this!"

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Kate screeches.

"NEVER!"

Her eyes begin glowing red. At the same moment, I hear Cody start crying loudly.

I don't want to use my powers on Kate, but I know that I and my family will die if I don't. With a heavy heart, I swing my hand down as if bowling a cricket ball. Immediately after that, Kate goes flying into a tree. I use my telekinesis to help usher Hazel and her family inside. Anke runs up to me.

"Everyone's inside," she pants.

Blood is leaking out of her nose. "You have a nosebleed," I tell her.

"I used too much of my power," explains Anke. "But everyone's safe now."

Kate gets to her feet and shoots two laser beams at the tree behind Anke and me, toppling it. Anke and I fall to opposite sides to avoid the tree, which crashes loudly behind me. A sharp stick hits me in the mouth and draws blood. Still lying on my back, I desperately reach out with my powers and lift Kate into the air. Though I'm looking at her upside down, even I can see her eyes getting ready to power up. I roll onto my front, my arm still outstretched, and get ready to dodge. I time it perfectly; I leap out of the way just before the laser beams reach me. However, I hear a cracking sound behind me and make the mistake of turning. One of the lasers had hit the tree, and that in turn sent a sharp shard of bark flying into my shoulder, lodging it in there. I yell in pain and fall backwards, my telekinesis faltering. Kate drops to the ground and fires at me, and there's nothing I can do to stop it.

Just before the beams hit, Anke drops down in front of me and projects a forcefield. With one arm out as if she's defending in boxing, she holds the forcefield just long enough for me to reach out with my power and push Kate back into the tree, where she finally gets knocked out.

…

Everyone is going their separate ways. Almost everyone is going back to OWCA HQ to spread the news of the attack, though my immediate family—that's Pearl, Dad, Mom, me, Teddy, Hazel, and Quinn—are staying here. Sam, Luke, and Kimi are taking Kate to the holding cell in Steele Bay, which is the highest security prison we have.

I'm sitting under a tree. My mouth hurts but it's nothing compared to my shoulder. Hazel has already pulled the shard out, and she is now working to clean up my wound. It's just a flesh wound, apparently, but it still really hurts.

My thoughts are still on Kate. I knew her back when we were in the facility. She was always passionate but I never saw this kind of evil in her. She didn't even like using her powers back then. Now, however, she'd used them unsparingly and for a bad purpose.

I let out a hiss as Hazel begins using an antiseptic wipe that really does _not_ agree with my wound. "Sorry," I say.

"It's okay." Hazel's voice is full of sympathy. "You're entitled to it. You saved my life, and the lives of my mate and children."

"Why did it have to be Kate?" I sigh. "I-I really liked her. But now…she tried to kill my family."

"I know," said Hazel sympathetically. "But you can't help how she turned out. She left two years ago, and she probably got a lot of hate during that time."

"I hope the others don't turn out like this," I say, dangerously close to crying. "I hope if we see any of the others again, it'll be because they'll want to come back. I wanted some of them to come back, but not like this."

"I know," Hazel said again.

I pause, feeling the sting of the wipe on my shoulder. "Everyone's going to know about this tomorrow," I sniff. "Everyone's going to hate us even more."

Hazel doesn't argue with that. All she says is, "Really, don't worry about it. Just don't give anyone any more reasons to distrust you."

"Thanks," I sigh. "Thanks a lot."

Hazel shrugs. "That's honestly the best advice I can give. Don't get provoked, don't start fights, and just be nice to everyone. I'm sorry, but you're right. There's going to be even more fear and distrust in OWCA tomorrow, and there's nothing we can do about it. All you can do is stick with your family and keep using your powers only when necessary or in training."

Unfortunately, I have to use Hazel's advice quite often over the next couple of weeks.

…

 ***breaths out* wow, that was action-packed, wasn't it? And also quite sudden…so what's wrong with Kate? Why did she go evil?**


	11. Speaking Aloud What Everyone Is Thinking

**Things are gonna go downhill from here, just warning you now.**

…

 **Hermes's POV**

I'm right: work the next day is awful. And for the next three days.

I have agents scrambling out of my way, I have agents looking at me like I just killed someone, and I have agents whispering about me. Anke has it just as bad but she keeps her head up and ignores all of it. However, _I_ can't. To me, it's grossly unfair. I was _not_ the one who used their powers to attack people, yet people are acting like I was.

Kate has been locked up in Steele Bay, and she isn't allowed visitors. Even if she was, I wouldn't be able to bring myself to go see her.

Adrian, Noah, and Lateysha have all kept their heads down since it happened. They got a first-hand account from Anke and I about what happened, but they weren't actually there, and yet even they are getting unwanted treatment from other agents, even BTs.

My family have stuck close to me and Anke, especially Hazel and Parker. They've both been ferocious whenever anybody acts horribly towards us. In fact, it's got to the point where Anke and I don't actually go anywhere without at least one member of my family with me. If the agents see that Mom or Dad or even one of my older siblings is with us, they generally leave us alone. I'm grateful for that.

Four days after the incident, I finally get the courage to ask Major Monogram if I can see Kate. I'm not sure whether to be more happy or terrified when he accepts. As I leave his office to go up to Steele Bay, I literally bump into Madeline the Echidna, who actually hisses like a cat at me, though I see her back away a step.

"Freak," she snarls.

"Leave me alone," I say miserably, trying to walk past her.

She pushes me hard, making me fall over. "You don't deserve anything. You're just a mutant freak who doesn't deserve the same rights as us perfectly normal agents."

"Madeline, leave me alone."

"You don't even have the right to use my name!"

Madeline looms over me. I know I have the ability to make her get out of my way, but I hear Hazel's words echoing in my head: _"Don't get provoked, don't start fights, and just be nice to everyone."_

So I do.

"Please, I want to visit my friend in Steele Bay."

"Ah yes, the dog." Madeline casually looks at her long and sharp claws. "She's a freak _and_ a criminal."

"My friend isn't a freak or a criminal!" I snap.

"Your "friend" tried to kill your family, and yet you stick up for her?"

"Madeline, please-."

"Please what?" crows Madeline. "I'm just speaking aloud what everyone is thinking."

"I just really want to go home now."

"You don't have a home. You'll never fit in. You're a freak who will always be inferior to us normal agents. That dog's powers went to her head and she attempted murder. It's only a matter of time before the same thing happens to you and you'll murder us all."

I feel that like a knife in my gut. "I won't!" I shout shrilly, momentarily breaking my promise to follow Hazel's advice.

"Don't raise your voice to me," Madeline snarls, digging her claws into my neck and lifting me off the ground. "I am older than you, I am more skilled than you, and I am an all-round better person than you. So when I say you'll lose control and murder us all, then that's what will happen."

I'm not entirely sure what happened next. One moment I'm struggling against Madeline's sharp claws, the next the echidna flies away from me and hits the wall, not too hard. I don't remember using my powers, but I guess they have some kind of defence mechanism in place.

"See!" Madeline gets up, not even looking hurt, despite the cut on her forehead. She's looking triumphant, jubilant. "You enjoyed that, didn't you? You're not just unstable: you're bloodthirsty. Will you finally be satisfied when you're standing over the dead bodies of your mom and dad and siblings?"

The knife in my gut becomes a serrated blade, twisting inside me, incurring agonising pain. I almost lash out with my powers but luckily I have no focus and they stay inside me. I don't know how she knows my worst fear, but somehow she does, and she's turned it into a weapon. She's hitting me where it hurts most.

I quickly turn and run. I keep going, not looking back, not looking around, not looking at anything apart from what's coming in front of me. I know if I stop now, I'll become focused and use my powers for something I shouldn't. I can't do that now. If I do, it'll never end.

…

 **This is simply a good place for a break. This chapter is NOT over yet I:}**

 **Also: what the heck, Madeline?! I originally put Cassie in Madeline's place but then I scrapped that idea. I knew that Cassie and her personality would probably work in that position, but you'll understand why I scrapped that idea in a few chapters' time.**


	12. Hermes's Pain

**Author's Note: VERY mild mentions of suicide at the end of this chapter.**

…

 **Hermes's POV**

As I run, I can't stop thinking about what Madeline said. The worst thing she said to me was _"I'm just saying aloud what everyone is thinking."_ It scares me to death, mostly because I know she's right. Almost everyone believes what Madeline said: one day, I'll kill someone I care about. My worst fear is killing a member of my family with my powers. Mom or Dad or Teddy or Hazel or Quinn or Anke, or any of the others. I don't know how I could live with myself if something entirely preventable happens because of my powers and my lack of control over them. Just a few days ago I nearly hit Anke with a wooden crate. Even though she shrugged it off, I could have seriously hurt her. And that was in _training._

"Hermes?"

It's Mom's voice. I don't see her as I run past but I hear her voice. I stop and look back round at her. She's holding a folder in her hands, and her face looks worried.

"Is everything okay?"

Before I can answer, I feel excruciating pain hit my stomach and head. It's extra pain, not the kind incurred from Madeline's taunting. I feel on the edge of a breakdown.

Unable to speak, I simply nod hurriedly. Then I turn and continue running, ignoring my mom's call of, "Hermes!"

I push open the doors to the outside of OWCA and keep running towards the field at the back of the building. I can't have my inevitable breakdown anywhere near anyone else or more rumours about my unstableness will spread. When I can barely see OWCA in the distance, I stop.

The pain in my stomach finally becomes so great that I throw up, twice. After I'm done, I collapse on my side, twitching in pain, feeling the scratchy grass beneath my fur. I convulse over and over again, my whole body wracked with pain. I feel like my nerves are on fire. I don't know what's causing such horrible pain but all I can do is endure it.

The pain lasts for what seems like hours, but is really only about ten minutes. During that time, I am sobbing uncontrollably, and not just from my physical pain.

When it finally stops, I don't get up. I simply lie in the field, in the scratchy grass, and wish things were different.

I wish I was dead.

I could do it. I could lift myself two hundred feet in the air and let myself fall. I could levitate something heavy over myself and drop it on my head. I have almost endless possibilities, almost endless ways of ending the pain. Both the physical pain and the psychological pain.

But I don't. I can't. It would absolutely destroy my family and Anke, and I can't do that to them.

So I simply lie in the cold field and wait for somebody to realise I'm missing and come for me.

But nobody does.

…

 ***cries* man, I'm good at writing the depressing stuff. Don't worry, I will always give you guys some warning if I'm going to include more stuff about suicide, though there will be NO self-harm at all. No mentions, no appearances. That's a promise.**

 **Also: what is this mysterious pain that Hermes experienced? It does have a purpose; I didn't just decided to torture Hermes (though it is fun writing about pain. Man, that's even more depressing. And harsh).**


	13. Anke's Pain

**This will be a short chapter.**

…

 **Anke's POV**

I'm looking for Hermes when I feel it. The agonising pain in my stomach and head. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I react exactly how Hermes did. I run. I run away, towards an empty place. I can feel a mental collapse coming on, and if it happens in front of these agents, I can kiss goodbye any hopes of ever quelling the feelings of fear and distrust in my co-workers.

As luck would have it, I make it into a girls' bathroom on the fourth floor, a bathroom that everyone generally avoids, ever since the rumour started that it is haunted. I personally think it's just ridiculous hearsay, but it provides me with a quiet place to have my breakdown, and I'm grateful for that.

I throw up into the toilet. I force myself to drink a little water, but it just makes me throw up again. Afterwards, the fiery torment in my veins and arteries begins.

It's so bad that I feel like I am having a seizure, going into cardiac arrest, and having my body set on fire all at the same time.

I can't bear it for long, so, in a desperate attempt to stop the agony, I seize the edge of the white porcelain sink and hit my head against it, trying to knock myself out. However, all I succeed in doing is making myself incredibly dizzy.

I try another attempt, but then my limbs start jerking and I can't control them. All I can do now is focus all my remaining concentration on preventing my power from lashing out and hitting something. If I survive this, I don't want to have to explain the damage away.

I remember thinking _what is this pain? Why is it attacking me? Is it a Bionic thing? Is Hermes being affected by it too?_

Then my vision is overtaken by blackness and I slump onto the floor, my body finally finding peace in unconsciousness.

…

 **Poor Anke :( things are going downhill for her too. Don't think I'll make her survive this, just because she's an awesome character. I do kill off characters I like. Examples: Mayfair, Ohio, India.**


	14. Finding Hermes (again)

**Hermes's POV is not going to appear in this chapter I:} perhaps because the character is not feeling so well *laughs maniacally* *stops laughing* Why am I being so evil, you ask? I'm an author, what can I say.**

…

 **Priya's POV**

I'm very worried about Hermes. I saw him run past me earlier, and he looked incredibly ill. And now I can't find him anywhere.

I go worriedly to Perry's office to find my mate in conversation with Terry the Turtle. Seeing my friend there makes me realise something: Terry never started a family. He has dated a couple of times but he has no mate or children. I guess he never wanted a family but now that he's over twenty years old, that option has been taken away from him.

Terry catches sight of me first. Perry sees that he's distracted and turns in his chair. "Priya, hey. Is everything okay?"

I awkwardly shuffle my feet. Terry gets the hint. "I'll see you later then, yeah?"

"Yeah, see you."

I step aside so that Terry can leave. Once the orange turtle has gone down the corridor and vanished, I edge further into the office, still holding the file that Pinky had given me.

"Are you okay?"

"It's Hermes," I say hesitantly. "About forty-five minutes ago, he ran past me and he looked really upset. He stopped and started to talk to me but then it was like he suddenly got a lot of pain and he ran off again. I haven't been able to find him since. No-one's seen him and I've phoned Pearl but he's not at home. I'm worried about him."

"Then we'll go find him," says Perry determinedly.

He gets up from his chair and we turn to leave. As we do, we bump into Teddy and Hazel, who are just coming into the office.

"Mom? Dad?" says Teddy, looking at our anxious faces.

"Hermes is missing," I tell them. "We have to find him."

Teddy and Hazel both nod. "Okay, I'll check with Apollo and Artemis," Hazel volunteers. "And Carl and Major Monogram. Maybe they've seen him."

"I'll check the grounds," offers Teddy.

"Perry and I will search inside," I say. "Oh…I hope he's okay."

…

 **Teddy's POV**

I head towards OWCA's back door. When I get there, I see Patty the Panda sitting on a chair outside the admin office, which is just by the back door. She's reading a magazine, but she looks up when I approach the door.

"Oh, Teddy. Are you looking for your brother?"

My heart leaps. "Yes, have you seen him?"

"He went out here about half an hour ago. Hasn't come back, as far as I know."

I quickly burst out through the back door and start running across the field. I couldn't bear it if anything has happened to Hermes. He's my brother, the only brother I have, and I love him. I'm glad we had that bonding moment at the birthday party last week. I would not have guessed that Hermes is claustrophobic like me, but I guess it makes sense. After all, he spent three and a half years of his life in a cage.

I stop running in the middle of the field. Breathing hard, I anxiously run my fingers through my three hair spikes. The fairly tall grass is twirling in the wind, slapping me in the face with the fact that this field is incredibly large. If Hermes is out here, I don't know if I'll be able to find him.

I continue running, wishing I had the power to fly, just so I can get an aerial view and find him quicker. I could have asked Nick or someone else who can fly, but I didn't think of that…

After ten more minutes of searching, I find the frail body of my brother. He's on his side, his eyes closed. He looks like he's asleep, but his brown fur is pale and he has obviously thrown up. I throw myself down beside my brother and shake his shoulder gently. "Hermes?"

He doesn't respond. I quickly feel for a pulse, immediately after which I hurriedly check his breathing.

There's nothing.

"Hermes!" I yell in panic, shaking my little brother. "HERMES!"

…

 **Short and evil chapter I:}**

 **I have given a warning like this before, but I'm going to say something slightly different: don't assume that because this story is entitled "Hermes's Struggle" that the eponymous character is going to survive. HE MAY NOT SURVIVE. Just warning you now.**


	15. Survival Race

**Now we finally get to see if Hermes is okay or not I:}**

...

 **Hermes's POV**

I wake with a jerk and sharply sit up. I'm gasping for breath, my face and body are sweaty, and I feel like I just had a nightmare, though I don't remember having one.

I take in my surroundings. I'm in a bed in the hospital bay, with an IV drip attached to my arm. I stare at it in confusion before I see Apollo coming towards me, looking rather tired. "Ah, you're awake."

"What happened?" I ask wearily.

"We were hoping you could tell us," Apollo replies sombrely. "We found you with no pulse out on the field. You weren't breathing. Quinn tried CPR twice and then I had to resort to using a defibrillator. Even when your heart restarted, it was weak. I gave you countless injections to try and strengthen your circulation. Your mom and dad didn't leave your side the whole time."

"Where are they now?" I ask.

"Perry was called on a mission and Priya had to go home to look after the infant twins after Parker and Hazel were called on another mission."

I let out a deep sigh and lie back down in the bed.

"How long was I out?"

"All in all, about twenty hours." Apollo grabs a pen and notebook and sits down on the chair next to my bed. "If you can remember, I need you to tell me what happened to you."

I think carefully. "It-it started when Madeline was being nasty to me in the corridor outside."

I see Apollo write that down. I feel a twinge of guilt; I hadn't intended to name Madeline as my tormentor.

"I was upset and I started running away. I passed Mom and stopped to speak to her. Before I could, I suddenly got a horrible pain in my head and stomach. I felt like I was about to have a seizure or something. I-I didn't want anyone to see me like that so I ran out into the field." I shudder at the memory. "It was awful. Absolutely horrible. It felt like my blood was on fire. There was pain everywhere, from my head to my body to my limbs. I felt like I was going to die."

I close my eyes and listen to the scribbling sound of Apollo's pencil on the paper. "Any idea what caused this pain?"

I shake my head. "None. It happened so suddenly."

"I see..." Apollo writes something else down. "Well, until we can find out what's wrong, I advise you stay hooked to the IV drip."

"Can you at least put it on wheels so I can walk around?" I plead.

"For the next day or so, you need to recover in bed," says Apollo. "I've done some tests and I'm just about to get the results. I think the pain might have been something to do with the chip inside you." He gives a smile. "Now, you need to rest. After all, you were dead for at least half an hour."

That is incredibly scary. That thought alone is enough to shut me up for the next hour, until Quinn comes to visit me.

"How are you feeling?" she asks quietly.

"Like hell," I answer truthfully. "But honestly, I'm just glad to be alive."

Quinn nods like she expected that. "Teddy was the one who found you," she tells me. "I happened to be out on the field with my boyfriend and I heard him yelling for help. I have never seen Teddy so scared and panicked. He was on the verge of hysteria. He just didn't know what to do. I tried CPR on you while Teddy ran to get Apollo. It was the scariest thing I've ever experienced: watching Apollo try to revive you. I can't tell you how lightheaded we all felt when you started breathing again."

I pause, thinking about Teddy. He told me that he was claustrophobic but after hearing what Quinn just said, I'm not convinced that that is his biggest fear. I think now that his biggest fear is not being able to help someone in trouble. His skills lie in the field, and not always can those skills save a life. Mostly they can, but because he's not medically trained, I guess he felt incredibly helpless and panicked. That's how Anke often feels when she wants to help but isn't physically able to.

Speaking of my girlfriend...

"Where's Anke?" I ask my sister.

Quinn shrugs. "I don't know. Nobody's seen her in a while."

Before I can feel properly worried about Anke, Apollo comes over to me, holding a couple of diagrams. "I was right," he says. "It is to do with your chip."

Quinn sits down on the chair next to my bed as Apollo holds up the first diagram, which doesn't really mean anything to me. "Your DNA's been forcefully changed by your bionic chip, so your DNA is currently not natural. In platypuses, apparently, the DNA is violently disagreeing with being changed by the chip."

"But then why did it wait until Hermes is five years old to start giving him pain?" asks Quinn. She looks at me. "You said the chip was implanted when you were one?"

I nod.

"I don't know," Apollo replies. "Perhaps it's because young animals' bodies begin their equivalent of puberty at age four, and this continually changes things throughout the puberty period. Maybe a natural change is being hindered or prevented from happening because of the changed DNA. Anyway, I think that's what's causing your pain."

"Wait...earlier you said "in platypuses"," I point out. "How do you know it's just in platypuses?"

"Because Lateysha, Noah, and Adrian have not come down with these symptoms," replies Apollo.

"So Anke must be being affected too!" I sit anxiously up again. "We have to find her! Where was she last seen?"

"She's not at your house or anywhere in the offices or gyms," Apollo says. "And nobody can recall having seen her in the last twenty hours."

I swing my legs over the side of the bed and stand up, to immediate protests from Apollo. I hold up my paw, stopping him. "Please, just get me a mobile drip."

...

 **Perry's POV**

I have just come back from my mission. An former LOVEMUFFIN scientist had activated an -inator and I have just returned from wrecking it. I know that MM only put me on this mission to take my mind off my sick son.

So when I get back and see Hermes walking around attached to a mobile IV drip, I have to look twice.

"Hermes?"

"Hi Dad," says Hermes, looking very worried. "Have you seen Anke?"

I shake my head. "Is everything okay?"

"I think the thing that happened to me has also happened to Anke," says Hermes anxiously. "We have to find her before it's too late."

I nod. "Okay, I'll help you find her. I think Luke, Sam, Piper, Teddy, Hazel, and Parker are in mission prep. They've all just returned from recent missions so while I begin the search, you go and enlist their help."

Hermes nods and heads off towards mission prep.

I start thinking about where Anke could be. The last time I saw her was yesterday morning when she told me that Hermes was going to ask permission to see their friend in Steele Bay. I have no idea where she could have gone after that.

I go around the office and speak to everyone I come across about Anke. Nobody has seen her. Logically speaking then, if Anke is in OWCA, she must be in a place where people do not usually go. That eliminates reception, the hospital bay, and the offices. If she had collapsed or something in one of the bathrooms, then someone would have found her by now.

Unless...

There's one girls' bathroom on the fourth floor that nobody goes in because they ridiculously think it's haunted. If Anke was trying to hide from people, I'm confident that that is where she would go.

On my way up there, I bump into Artemis on her way down.

"Perry, is everything okay?"

I know she knows the answer already. She's perceptive; that's her job. "We think what happened to Hermes has also happened to Anke. I think she's in the girls' bathroom on the fourth floor."

"I'll come with you, then."

With Artemis following, I rush up to the bathroom on the fourth floor and push open the door, ignoring the odd looks I get from the agents on that floor.

 **Artemis's POV**

I hurry into the bathroom and find the light pink platypus lying face down on the cold tiles.

I bend down next to her. "Anke? Anke, can you hear me?" I feel for a pulse. There's nothing, and she's not breathing. I gently gather her in my arms, trying not to panic, and leave the bathroom.

Perry falls into step as I hurry towards the stairs. "It's the exact same thing as Hermes," I say as I walk quickly. "Only this time her heart has been stopped for over twenty hours. I don't know if we'll be able to revive her."

...

 **Dun DUN DUUUUN!**


	16. Anke

**I:} is all I'm going to say about this chapter I:}**

...

 **Apollo's POV**

I'm just looking at the results of Hermes's last test when my twin sister comes hurrying into the room, followed by Perry. I turn and catch sight of the light pink platypus lying in Artemis's arms.

"Anke...!"

I take the platypus from my sister, place her on the bed next to Hermes's bed, the one he is no longer in, and attach her to a heart monitor. Not needing to ask or check if she has a pulse, I grab a syringe. As I fill it with clear liquid, I say, "Perry, go get Hermes."

Perry nods and leaves the room. Artemis approaches me. "Anything I can do?" she asks.

"Unfortunately not. You may as well get back to work."

"Okay." Artemis goes to the door. "Call me if there's any change."

"Will do."

I don't see her leave because I turn my back to the door and inject the contents of the syringe into Anke's arm. It's an artificial stimulant of my own invention that forcibly restarts the heart. It doesn't always work, but today it does. The heart monitor begins emitting a slow beeping.

Hermes comes quickly into the room, followed by Perry, who is pushing the mobile drip along.

 **"Anke!"**

Hermes hobbles with his father's help to his girlfriend's bedside.

"You might need to check his drip," Perry says to me. "He got to mission prep but Parker had to take him to his office because he felt dizzy."

"Maybe it's the wrong kind of drip," I muse. "I'll look into it."

Hermes is staring down at Anke. "Is she okay?"

"Artemis and I found her," says Perry. "She was unconscious."

"Her heart has been stopped for the last twenty hours," I add softly. "I managed to restart it but I don't know how long it's going to last."

"Will she wake up?" asks Hermes.

"Hopefully," I sigh tiredly. "But if she does and she exerts herself too much, there is an enormous risk of cardiac arrest. I'll have to keep a defibrillator on hand."

"How many visitors is she allowed?" Perry asks.

"Let's keep it to three minimum."

"Four?" says Hermes pleadingly. "Lateysha, Noah, Adrian, and I?"

I nod reluctantly. "I guess. But don't overexert her if she wakes up."

"I won't."

I turn away to prepare the defibrillator when I hear Hermes's voice: "Apollo?"

I turn back. "Yes?"

Hermes pauses. His soft brown eyes look directly at mine. "Thank you. For saving both me and Anke."

I smile. "I wouldn't be a very good doctor if I didn't at least try and help."

"Seriously. Thank you so much."

...

 **Adrian's POV**

I'm chatting to my grandparents when Hermes's sister Quinn comes hurrying up to me and explains that not only is Hermes awake and up, but Anke is in a critical condition.

I follow her back to the hospital wing where I find my best friend standing beside Anke's bed, attached to a mobile IV drip. He turns as I come in.

"Hermes!"

I run towards my best friend and hug him tightly. "Are you okay?"

He nods. "But Anke's not. She went through the same thing I did, but her heart was stopped for longer."

Just after he has gotten me up to speed, Hermes's other sister Hazel comes running through the door, closely followed by Hermes's older brother Teddy. I step back as both of them enclose Hermes in a hug.

Hazel is crying. "We were so worried!" she sobs. "I couldn't concentrate on the mission because I kept thinking 'what if he's died and nobody can tell me?'!"

"I'm okay," Hermes says softly.

He's looking at Teddy, who's still hugging him. I think he's seeing his older brother in a whole new light.

At that moment, Apollo comes into the room, carrying a small white cat, which he lies on the bed opposite Anke's, and goes to the other side of the room. Immediately, at least a dozen rabbits and cats swarm around the bed, a quiet hum of conversation beginning.

Hermes and I go to either side of Anke's bed, him on the side of her IV drip, me on the side of her heart monitor. I gently place one of my paws on Anke's flat palm, watching the slow rise and fall of her chest. Hermes anxiously stares at the heart monitor. I think he thinks if he stops, the monitor will flatline.

"She'll be okay, don't worry," says Lateysha's voice.

I didn't even hear her or Noah come in but now they're both standing at the foot of Anke's bed.

"She's a survivor, like you," Noah says to Hermes.

"I can't stop myself from worrying, though," Hermes says quietly.

"If you could, I'd be very concerned," Lateysha says with a small smile. "It's natural to worry about loved ones."

I see her take Noah's hand and they interlock their fingers. It's nice that their relationship is still strong. The two phoenixes then kiss each other. Hermes and I look away, half awkward, half heart-warmed.

"Get a room," croaks an amused female voice.

Hermes stands up so fast that his chair falls over backwards. "Anke!"

The rose-coloured platypus is awake and smiling. Her hand slowly grips mine. "Don't look so glum. I was barely dead."

"Your-" Hermes begins, before he realises it probably isn't a good idea to tell Anke that her heart had stopped for twenty hours. He quickly switches to, "you're lucky to be alive."

Anke nods weakly. "I know. I remember the pain."

"I got the same thing," Hermes says. "Apollo thinks it's something to do with our altered DNA affecting the natural changes in our bodies."

"That makes sense," says Anke.

"It does?"

Hermes ignores me and puts his hand on Anke's shoulder. "Whatever caused it, I'm just really glad we're both okay."

"Me too." Anke smiles again, before her eyes begin to close. "I'm tired..."

"I guess you can sleep," Hermes says doubtfully. "I don't really know."

Anke's eyes are closed now. She mutters sleepily, "love you, Hermes."

"Anke?"

The heart monitor begins spiking. Anke suddenly jerks in the bed.

"Apollo!" yells Hermes in panic. "APOLLO!"

 **Apollo's POV**

I rush out of the storage closet and to the bed, pushing people out of my way.

"Everybody out!" I shout as I check Anke's vitals.

Nobody moves. They all stare at me.

"EVERYBODY OUT!" I yell as loudly as I can. "OUT! NOW!"

Teddy and Hazel begin to get everyone out, even the family of Ford the Cat.

"Eleni, get the defibrillator!"

My nurse Eleni hurriedly prepares the device. While she does that, I try CPR. Nothing.

"Can't you use the stimulant injection?" asks Eleni fearfully as she hands me the paddles.

"I can't. Using it twice on the same person could do more harm than good."

I wait until I hear the powering up noise, then I shout, "clear!"

Eleni backs away as I apply the defibrillator paddles to Anke's chest. She jerks but her heart does not restart. I keep trying but it doesn't work.

Then the almost empty room hears the unmistakable sound of a flatline.

"Call it," I whisper miserably.

Eleni sadly switches off the IV drip.

"Time of d...d..." I can't say it but I have to. It's procedure. "Time of death: 12:32."

...

 ***cries* I HAD TO DO IT**


	17. Healing A Broken Heart

**Think I'm evil? Well, read this chapter before you decide whether to truly hate me I:}**

...

 **Hermes's POV**

It's only been ten minutes since Apollo told me and I haven't been able to stop crying.

Lateysha and Noah are clutching each other and Adrian is hugging his mother, Kimi.

Apollo finally lets Adrian and I to see her. I can barely walk but Adrian is helping me. We both badly need the support.

Anke looks so lifeless, lying still on the bed. I can barely look at her but I force myself to. This is my last chance to see her face before she is taken away forever.

Adrian goes over and tightly clutches Anke's limp right hand, the continuous beeping noise coming from the heart monitor echoing in our ears. As I watch, I feel Apollo come up to me. He hands me a special-looking syringe. It looks rather mechanical and technical, though it isn't too heavy. "This is a special pain medicine I designed," he tells me hollowly. "If you feel a...an attack, let's call them...coming on, inject yourself with this. You will still have the attack, I'm afraid, but this medicine will make it almost painless. Certainly a lot less painful than it was last time. It also creates the serum inside itself, so all you need to do is put it on charge overnight once a week."

"Thank you," I say quietly.

"I-I just don't want to lose anyone else to this..."

Apollo closes his eyes and turns his head to the side. Just in that simple gesture is all the evidence I need to know that the loss of Anke is affecting Apollo just as much as me. I can also tell that this is how he feels every time he loses a patient, not just Anke.

Beep.

"What is that?" Apollo demands, opening his eyes and looking at Eleni.

Beep.

"I don't know," replies the nurse cautiously.

Beep beep.

Adrian suddenly gives a screech. Apollo and I turn to face him and find a golden kind of energy surrounding Anke's body. We hurry over. Apollo goes to the heart monitor while I go to the side opposite Adrian.

Beep beep.

"What happened?" I demand.

Beep beep.

"I-I don't know!" Adrian stammers. "I was holding her hand and then she started glowing!"

I stare at Adrian. "You have the power of healing," I state.

"But I can't bring people back from the dead!" wails Adrian.

"It's the stimulant," says Apollo from the other side of the bed. Adrian and I turn to look at the doctor, who's staring at the heart monitor. "Your healing powers reacted with the artificial stimulant in her veins. Somehow, they mixed and brought her back to life. For the second time."

I swing my head to look hopefully at Anke. My girlfriend's chest is moving steadily up and down. "So she's alive again? Will it last?"

"Yes," replies Apollo. "Her vitals are different from last time. They will last. She'll still be susceptible to the attacks but I'll develop a serum for her too. Watch the monitor and tell me if she wakes up."

With that, he strides over to the other side of the room.

I look gratefully at Adrian. "You do realise what you've done, right?"

He numbly shakes his head. "N-not really."

"You brought someone back to life," I tell him. "You did the impossible."

Adrian stares down at Anke's body. "If you think about it, we are the impossible."

"We are," I agree.

There's a pause.

"You don't really hang with anyone, do you?"

"No," Adrian sighs. "Lateysha and Noah stick together, and so do you two. Everyone else thinks I'm a freak."

"From now on, you can stick with us," I say. "Anke and I. We'll be a group. We can protect each other from harassment and we can hang out as friends."

"R-really?" Adrian's whole face lights up.

"You saved Anke's life. In my book, you've earned it. Plus, you really are a cool person and you deserve friends."

Adrian beams at me. I smile back. Then we hear a deep sigh coming from the body between us. Anke is stirring. Her eyes open and focus on me. "Hermes...?"

"Anke!"

I lean across her and hug her tightly. I feel her arms hug me back. Adrian goes to get Apollo.

"How are you feeling?" I ask as I pull back.

"I don't know..." Anke replies. "Everything's fuzzy."

"It will be for a while," says Apollo, coming towards us. "There are a million and one tests I'll need to do

but you should be able to go home by the end of the week."

"What day is it today?" asks Anke.

"Wednesday."

"Oh, that's only about four days," Anke realises. "I can do that."

Apollo gives a smile. "I can't tell you how glad I am to see you alive."

He goes off to finish preparing the serum. Anke looks at me in confusion. "What does he mean?"

"Do you remember talking to us before you...uh...died?" I ask.

Anke screws her face up thoughtfully and slowly nods. "I think so. But after I said I loved you, I feel like I went to sleep."

"You...you went into cardiac arrest," I tell her quietly. "Apollo tried a lot to save you but your heart stopped. You died. He felt awful."

Anke looked sympathetically towards Apollo's back. "I guess he's really relieved I'm okay, then, huh?"

"Yes, and he isn't the only one," I smile.

Anke also smiles. In that smile, I see gratefulness towards Apollo and Adrian, relief at being alive, and happiness towards me. I hold Anke's hand and say, "I love you, Anke."

"I love you too, Hermes."

...

 **still hate me? Also I'm sorry if Adrian bringing Anke back to life is too convenient but I've been planning this since like chapter 10 so...**


	18. A Major Change

**This chapter will not be entirely centered on Hermes and Anke I:} plus there's a special surprise in store**

...

 **Anke's POV**

Ten days after that, I finally feel ready to get out of bed.

Apollo was right: his tests only take about four days. However, I don't feel well enough to get out of bed until almost a week after that.

Hermes is with me in the hospital for almost every minute of every day. For that, I am grateful. I don't think I would have been able to bear being in there without him. Adrian comes and goes, but that's mainly because he's spending time helping to train the BTs, on Jayne Walker's request. I still don't like that woman.

"Ready?" asks Hermes.

Sitting on the edge of my bed, I nod nervously.

It was three days ago that Apollo deemed it safe to unhook Hermes from his mobile IV drip. He also said that there would be no need for me to have a mobile drip too, which I have to say I'm relieved about.

Hermes helps me off the bed. My legs feel wobbly but I'm able to stand. Just about. I reach onto the bed and pick up the light blanket that Apollo told me I should have when I go out. Hermes puts it around my shoulders. I hold the ends with one hand, keeping it in place, and Hermes takes my other hand. With his help, I shuffle out of the room. I feel like an old lady but as I walk, I get stronger.

I get outside and squint against the sunlight. While the sun is out, it's still fairly chilly, but I adjust the blanket around my shoulders and I'm warm.

"You good?" asks Hermes.

I nod. "I'll tell you if I feel unwell."

"Okay. I have the medicines so we should be okay."

We sit down on the grass and enjoy the sunshine. There's no-one else out here except us.

I really love Hermes. We've been through a lot together recently, and I know that if I had been in Hermes's position and vice versa, I wouldn't have been able to live without him.

 **Hermes's POV**

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you dying and being brought back to life actually benefited us," I say, taking a huge risk.

"In what way?" Anke asks. She doesn't seem offended...yet.

"Adrian brought someone back from the dead. That fact has been spread around OWCA for the last two weeks. People fear us a lot less now, and ever since the whole Kate thing, I feel like we really needed something like that."

Anke nods thoughtfully. "Yeah..."

I lie back on the grass. Anke copies me but she rests her head on my chest.

Almost losing Anke permanently makes me realise how much I love her. I can't stand losing her. I feel insecure when I'm not around her. I really love her.

We lie outside together for about an hour. We only move when we see Adrian coming running towards us.

"You guys missed it!" he pants when he arrives. "I know you missed the announcement but I can't believe nobody told you."

Anke and I exchange a look. "Missed what?" I ask.

"Major Monogram announced his retirement the other day. An hour ago, Carl took his place."

 **Perry's POV**

After the ceremony, the newly made Commander Carl leaves the stage rather quickly. Major Monogram, who is now just Francis Monogram, leaves on the opposite side. Now he gets to go home and spend more time with his wife and kids, Monty and Mel.

I follow Carl to the changing room behind the stage. It's almost completely dark. The former intern is sitting on a bench, hanging his head. I come inside and close the door. This makes it incredibly dark, so I switch on the light. Usually there's light coming in from the window and it's not used at night so the light is only dim. Even in such low light, I can see the look on Carl's face.

"Are you okay?"

Carl sniffs and pushes his glasses further up his nose. "I can't do this, Perry."

Registering this use of my name rather than my title, I hop onto the bench next to my new superior officer.

"I knew that this day would come someday, ever since I made the decision to join OWCA permanently. Major Monogram told me lots of times to be ready for when I take over from him. But now that that day is here, I don't know that I'm ready. I can't lead OWCA, Perry. I can't live up to Major Monogram's great legacy. It was hard enough doing it all those years ago when he was temporarily fired and I was promoted. That wasn't even for a day, and I couldn't handle it." He buries his face in his hands. "I can't do it. I can't be Major Monogram."

I'm silent for a moment, trying to think of what to say. "Good."

"What?"

"Good," I repeat. "You can't be Major Monogram. That's why your name is Commander Carl and not Major Monogram. You're going to be your own leader. It doesn't matter how Monogram was perceived in regards to how you'll be perceived. As long as you earn your agents' respect, you'll keep it. As long as you prove to be a great leader in your own right, your agents will view you as such. You don't have to try and be Major Monogram. Just be your own leader. Be Commander Carl, and be a strong leader. You've been in this organisation for nearly as long as the major, and I'd argue that by your sixth year here, you knew OWCA better than him. There's nobody better for this job than you."

Wow, I think that's the longest I've ever talked for.

Carl nods and looks up, a determined look settling on his face. "I-you're right. I can do this. I can't let OWCA down."

"No you can't," I agree. "Now go out there and issue your first orders as Commander Carl."

Carl grins and says, "I don't need to go out there to do that. Agent P, I order you to take the rest of the day off."

"Wh-why?"

"For giving the commander advice and making him feel a lot better about his job."

I smile. "Thank you, sir."

"Sir..." repeats Carl, sighing. "I'm never going to get used to that."

...

 **I just realised how long MM had been in charge so I decided it was time for a change. Thoughts?**

 **Also: cute Perry/Carl bonding :)**


	19. A New Fight

**ACTION TIME *evil laugh***

 **...**

 **Hermes's POV**

We begin training again about two days later.

Within three more days, Anke can make a forcefield every time she tries. I can not only lift and throw objects, I can crush and even manipulate them. Adrian can heal more and more serious injuries, to the point where he managed to heal a what-would-have-been fatal wound and save Parker's life. Lateysha can now phase through anything and Noah is able to fire both short blasts and long lasers.

The amount of harassment we've been getting has dropped. Now it's pretty much only Madeline who's giving us any kind of bad treatment. Anke hates Madeline for that reason. She doesn't know why Madeline dislikes me so much but I do. She's bitter because she was romantically interested in my brother Teddy but he chose Piper. Now she has a vendetta against our whole family.

After training one day, Adrian, Anke, and I go outside and lie down on the grass hill, watching the little kids play wrestle. It's such a nice September day that it doesn't even feel like Fall.

"I feel like we've come a long way since training began," I begin.

"Speech?" Adrian grins.

Anke giggles.

"Seriously, when we started training, I couldn't even throw objects, Anke only made wisps, and you could barely heal a scratch. Today, I bent a street lamp in half, Anke protected herself and the two phoenixes at the same time from a cutting laser, and you healed a fatal stab wound to save someone's life. I'm serious: we've come really far, and it's only been just about a month."

"It has," agrees Anke. "I like to think dying twice toughened me up a bit."

That makes the three of us laugh. It feels good to laugh about it now, considering that it was the scariest thing in the world while it was happening.

All of a sudden, one of the kids screams. The three of us sit up sharply just in time to see an object lit up with pink kinetic energy come flying into the clearing. Reacting fast, Anke creates a forcefield over the object. When it explodes, the force is contained, but Anke collapses backwards. Adrian catches her and envelops her in his "healing aura" while I use my telekinesis to pick up the seven kids, including Felise, Hughie, and Austin, my niece and nephews. I gently manoeuvre them inside the OWCA building where they will be safe.

Anke has recovered. She readies herself in a battle stance, a movement I copy. "Adrian, go get Lateysha and Noah," I order my friend.

Adrian nods and runs off.

Out of the bushes on the other side of the lawn comes a silver bobcat, a pink rabbit, and a blue turtle.

I recognise all three of them, and it hurts my heart seeing them with such anger...not quite evil...in their eyes.

"Anton, Rose, and Lydia!" gasps Anke, who has also recognised them.

"Anke, we need to think," I say, keeping a wary eye on my former friends, who seem to be searching the area. "We need to remember what they can do so we can stop them from hurting anyone."

"Uh...I only remember Lydia the Turtle. She can kinetically charge objects and make them explode."

"That...is actually useful, thank you."

Lydia suddenly picks up a rock, charges it, and throws it at us. Luckily, Anke casts a domed forcefield around the three animals and the rock, on which Lydia hastily cancels the charge.

Just then, I see my mother and father run out of the OWCA building and take up fighting stances a few metres behind me. "Hold it as long as you can," I tell Anke, before I turn and run over to my parents.

"Please, you have to go back inside," I plead.

"Hermes, this is what we're trained to do," Dad says.

"We're trained to fight people like this," adds Mom.

"No you're not, you're really not," I say pleadingly, to their surprise. "With all due respect, you can't fight these people. They're too powerful and they use their dangerous abilities unsparingly."

"I can't hold them for much longer!" calls Anke's strained voice.

I have to make my parents understand. I change my approach to a slightly more blunt one. "You're out of your league with these guys. They won't hesitate to kill you, and neither you nor I will be able to stop them. Please, just leave this to us."

Anke suddenly gasps as the dome breaks apart.

"We can take them. We're a match for them."

As if to illustrate my point, Noah rushes past me and flings an energy blast at Rose, who turns invisible and presumably dodges it; and Lateysha swoops overhead and phases through the bolt of electricity that Anton fires her way.

Mom and Dad exchange a look. "Okay," says Mom finally, and all three of us know she's speaking for both her and Dad. "Just be careful and stay safe."

"Always."

I briefly hug my parents, before they head inside. I barricade the door from the outside so that nobody can try and be a hero. I know my parents and the rest of OWCA will be watching so I'll have to try to not let them down.

I survey the battle.

Tish is helping Noah to phase through the electricity bolts that Anton is firing their way (a trick Tish learnt recently: being able to not only phase herself through stuff but up to two people at the same time) while Noah fires energy blasts back at Anton, who dips in and out of visibility, thanks to Rose.

Anke and Lydia are locked in battle, neither of them actually using their powers. They're simply punching and kicking each other and trying to pin each other to the ground. So far, it doesn't look as if there is a clear winner.

Deciding that Anke is the one who could use some help, I charge towards the two fighting females.

What happens next is something I'm really embarrassed about. Lydia spots me and throws a rather heavy rock at me without even using her powers. Like an idiot, I don't move in time. The rock hits my right forehead, drawing blood, and sending me falling backwards. I save myself from falling with my powers and try to redeem myself by lifting Lydia into the air just as she's about to kinetically charge another projectile. She instantly begins kicking and struggling against the invisible force holding her.

"Rose!" she yells.

Before I can properly realise who she's calling for, I feel someone grab me from behind in a chokehold. As my oxygen supply is suddenly and forcefully restricted, I drop concentration to my powers, dropping Lydia from ten feet in the air. Anke leaps on her the minute she lands, and the two are immediately re-embroiled in their wrestling match.

Through my dimming vision, I see Lateysha knock Anton out. Noah has his arm and palm out towards me, preparing to fire. I expect him to do just that but he's hesitating.

"Take the shot!" I choke.

"I might hit you!" Noah snaps. "Can you move or something?"

"Oh yeah sure, IT'S NOT LIKE I'M BEING STRANGLED OR ANYTHING!" I yell hoarsely.

But I do manage to twist myself so that the torso of Rose (who I assume correctly to be the person holding me) is more exposed. Noah fires a stun blast (a trick Noah learnt recently: he's able to fire a non-lethal blast that we call a stun blast because it is still fire and it does still cause pain, but it can't kill), which I think hits Rose.

However, a small part of it also hits me.

As Rose shoves me away in pain, I clutch my side and fall sideways onto the grass, my head down, trying to stem the pain as well as gasping for breath. It's not as bad as it could be, and I struggle to my feet just in time to see Anke subdue Lydia and hold her down with a forcefield.

We've won.

...

 **youll want to remember Lydia I:} just a heads up**


	20. True Allegiance

**I:}**

...

 **Hermes's POV**

After Adrian has tended to my side injury, I go to see my parents. Mom hugs me tightly while Dad gently rubs my back.

"I'm so proud of you," Dad says, smiling. "You fought really well."

"Thanks, Dad."

Commander Carl comes up to us. "I have the three Bionics detained in the cells," he says. "I've arranged for you and your friends to visit them."

"Who's on guard?" asks Dad.

"I believe it's Agent Terry and Agent Cassie," replies Carl.

Inwardly, I grimace. Cassie is not the most sympathetic of people, and she can be extremely tactless, both accidentally and on purpose. Terry, however, should be fairly calm and rational.

I take Anke and Adrian down to the prison with me. Neither Lateysha nor Noah want to see what has become of our friends. Dad comes with us but Mom stays in the office with Teddy and Hazel.

 **Perry's POV**

When we get to the cells, Cassie is actually not smirking, as I expected she would be. She looks...sad.

"Can we go through?" I ask.

Cassie slowly nods. "Sure. But one of us should go with you, just in case."

She shoots a look at Terry, who says, "I'll come with you."

Cassie even gives me a smile as we go through. I frown in confusion and address Terry as we walk in: "Was Cassie replaced by a shapeshifting alien or something? Why's she acting so nice?"

"She's a mother now," Terry replies without looking at me. "Motherhood has a way of mellowing anybody out."

"Well, I like this new Cassie," I state. "She's nice, quiet, and polite. The exact opposite of how she was before. Plus, she doesn't seem to hate me as much."

I'm confused by the behaviour of my friend. Terry won't look at anyone and his voice is monotonous when he speaks, but nothing obvious seems to be bothering him. I don't know why he's being like this.

We reach the first cell, containing the silver bobcat, who is savagely scratching the back wall of the cell.

"Anton?" says Anke hesitantly.

The bobcat turns, and we all see his face. It's completely savage. He doesn't look as if he has any remorse for what he did.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Hermes, Anke, and Aaron."

"Adrian," corrects the panda quietly.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Anton sneers.

"I want to know why you attacked us," I say firmly.

"I wasn't talking to you, hotshot," Anton leers at me.

"Hey, don't talk to my father like that," snaps Hermes. "I want to know that too. Why did you attack us?"

Anton looks at my youngest son with an expression of what looks like sadness. "You could have been great," he sighs. "If you'd just come with us all those years ago. He promised us untold power, and you could have had that too. All the power and riches we could ever want. We could have ruled the Earth."

"I already have all the power I want, thank you," Hermes snaps.

I see him link hands with Anke, but I'm more focused on something Anton just said. "He?" I ask. "Who said that to you?"

Anton immediately kneels down and adopts a position that looks like he's praying. "The great, the almighty, the omnipotent, the Overlord."

"Fanboy much?" snorts Anke.

"Who is the Overlord?" Hermes asks.

"He bestows power on us," Anton says with great admiration. "I can harness electricity from the universe. Rose can make even a skyscraper invisible. Lydia can kinetically charge and blow up a living being."

Is it my imagination or did Terry just flinch?

"We never thought such things were possible," Anton continues. "But he helped us see who we truly are."

Anton bows low as if he is worshipping someone. We wait but he doesn't say or do any more.

"Let's move on," I suggest.

We do. The next cell is empty.

"Rose!" gasps Hermes. "She's escaped!"

Adrian steps forward and hits the glass hard. "That won't work, Rose. I can sense your heat signature, and I know you're in there."

The form of a small rabbit flickers on the bed. As the pink rabbit comes into view, I see Hermes tenderly touch his own throat, and I remember seeing this rabbit trying to strangle my son.

"Is that true?" she asks, half bored, half interested. "Could you really sense my heat signature, Adrian?"

"No," answers Adrian, looking a little pleased that Rose actually remembered his name. "But it got you to come out, didn't it?"

Rose raises an eyebrow and the corner of her mouth turns up slightly. "Clever."

"So why did you attack us?" asks Hermes.

Rose does exactly the same thing that Anton did: she gets down on her knees and adopts a praying pose. "The great, the almighty, the omnipotent, the Overlord. He promised us power if we did."

Anke snorts again. "You're just as bad as Anton."

"It's true," says Rose. "He can allow us to share our powers. We can rule the world."

"Why did the Overlord want you to attack us?" Hermes asks.

Rose lies back on her bed and closes her eyes. "We don't question what the great, the almighty, the omnipotent, the Overlord tells us to do."

"Of course you don't," snorts Anke.

"Are you going to be like that every time they say "the great, the almighty, the omnipotent, the Overlord"?" Hermes asks.

"Yes, yes I am."

"Get a room," sighs Rose.

"We certainly will," Hermes says, narrowing his eyes at Rose. I don't think he's forgiven the rabbit for nearly strangling him to death. "We're done here."

The group of us move on, to no complaint from Rose.

In the next cell, the blue turtle is sitting on the floor with her back to the foot of her bed.

"Hi Lydia," says Hermes sadly.

I think out of all three of the prisoners, Hermes feels most strongly for Lydia.

To my surprise, Lydia doesn't sneer, snap, or even seem evil. She turns her head and just seems sad. "Hello Hermes. Anke. Adrian."

"Did the Overlord tell you to attack us too?" Hermes asks.

Again to my surprise, Lydia doesn't immediately say "The great, the almighty, the omnipotent, the Overlord." All she says is, "yes. The Overlord promised me the thing I want the most if I did it."

I notice that she said "the thing I want the most" instead of "power". That makes me think that maybe the thing she wants the most isn't power, like Anton and Rose want.

"And what is that?" questions Adrian.

"A family." Lydia's tone grows bitter. "I never knew my parents. They abandoned me when I was a very young baby."

"No they didn't!" Terry suddenly bursts out. "They loved you very much and it destroyed them to lose you!"

"And how would you know?" snarls Lydia.

Everyone is staring at Terry, who closes his eyes and turns his head away. He doesn't say anything else but that doesn't matter. I've already worked it out. I look from Lydia to Terry, unable to believe that I couldn't see the resemblance before.

"Because he's your father," I say quietly.

...

 **and on that bombshell... XD**


	21. Painful Memories

**Cliffhanger resolution: right here :)**

...

 **Terry's POV**

The cat's out of the bag now, but I'd rather it happened sooner rather than later.

Everyone except me swings their gaze on Perry. "What?" gasps Hermes. "But Terry doesn't have any children!"

"Explain," Anke snaps. "Now."

I address the astonished Lydia, knowing full well that what I'm about to say is going to bring up a lot of painful memories for me and perhaps also for Lydia too. "What do you remember about your parents?" I ask.

Lydia narrows her eyes but I think she realises that she's going to have to tell us if she wants to learn the truth. And if she's anything like her mother, I'm sure she has a burning curiosity, if nothing else. "I remember an image of my mother. I don't remember my father."

I nod. I was expecting that but it still hurts. "Your mother was a blue turtle. You look exactly like her, except she had a birthmark in the shape of a wonky heart on the side of her neck and she always wore a necklace of flowers."

Lydia stares at me. "That's what I remember about her...!"

"Her name was Lyndi," I recall. "She was beautiful. I met her when I was sent on a long-duration mission to California five years ago."

Perry gasps like he's just been slapped in the face. "I remember that!"

"I can't disclose the details of my mission but I finished it several days early. Major Monogram said my flight wasn't leaving for another eight days so I might as well enjoy Monterey while I was there. I was swimming in the pool at my hotel when I saw a blue turtle dive from the top diving board, one that nobody else was even daring to try, and yet she dived like she was in the Olympics. I complimented her dive, and then we had a diving contest. Turned out she was on vacation like me. She said she lived in Rio."

"There's a Brazilian version of OWCA," Perry says aloud. "Was she-?"

"No," I reply simply. "No, she wasn't an agent. We spent the next week together and we found ourselves falling in love. When we found out she was pregnant, I phoned Major Monogram and requested more time. He said I was entitled to a month more vacation time, and I said I wanted to spend it all here. He said that was fine."

Lydia is following this with a kind of fascinated horror. "She was pregnant with me?"

I nod. "That's right. When she gave birth to you, we felt like the happiest parents alive. We were blessed with a beautiful baby girl. We named you Lydia because it was close to Lyndi and we thought it really suited you.

"But...one day, we were attached on the street. Two men snatched you from Lyndi. When we tried to get you back, they tossed me aside and kicked Lyndi into the path of an oncoming car."

Lydia claps her hands over her mouth. "No...!"

"The car didn't even see her. It tore me apart but I had to let the men escape with you while I tried desperately to revive Lyndi, but she was already gone."

"I remembered my name," Lydia whispers. "I guess I must have known deep down that if my parents really had abandoned me, I wouldn't have remembered my name."

"I think I knew that she was dead when I rushed into the road for her," I say dully. "Sometimes I hate myself for choosing to do that; if I had gone after the men, I might have been able to get you back."

"That's why you were so distant when you came back," realises Perry. "I thought you just didn't want to come back to work after such a long holiday."

There's a stabbing pain in my chest at the memories. "I loved Lyndi but I lost her. I loved Lydia but I lost her too. I felt hopeless and as if the whole world wanted me to suffer."

Perry puts his arms around me and hugs me. I can't stop the tears falling down my face as I clutch my friend.

Lyndi was the love of my life. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her as mates but that future was cruelly torn from me, as was my daughter, who was made into a living weapon at such a young age.

"What I don't understand is why," Hermes says. "Those two men were clearly working for Bill and Dimitri, but they always snatched pregnant females, like my mom. Why did they target Terry and Lyndi?"

"I guess they can recognise a newborn when they see one," Anke says bitterly. "So they decided to eliminate the middleman."

"Um...Perry, is it?" comes Lydia's voice.

I let go of Perry and my friend turns. "Yes, it is."

"I know I have no right to ask anything of you after what I did, but...could I...could I hug my father?"

I look pleadingly at Perry, who nods. "As long as you promise not to use your powers."

"I do." Lydia nods violently. "I promise I won't use my powers."

Perry goes off to open the cell while I press my hand against the glass. Lydia presses hers against her side of the glass. Our eyes meet. It strikes me now just how much Lydia looks like Lyndi. It makes me happy in a way; I feel like Lyndi is still here. She isn't gone, not really. Her spirit lives on in her daughter...our daughter.

The cell opens and Lydia throws her arms around me. I hug her back, and now we're both crying.

"My daughter," I keep repeating, half to make her believe it, half to make myself believe it. "You're home..."

"I'm home...Dad."

...

 ***starts bawling***


	22. Reflection

**Hermes's POV**

I'm so glad Lydia has found her family. I'm also glad that Terry has someone to love now.

However, I can't relax fully. All three of them mentioned a being called the Overlord. Seems like whoever he is, he has been sending Bionics to attack us.

"Whoever this Overlord is, he has no right to send people to attack us," says Adrian, fuming.

Anke, Adrian, and I are sitting outside on the grass while Terry and Dad go to talk to Commander Carl.

"Who even is the Overlord?" Anke asks thoughtfully.

"Apparently he has the power to bestow abilities on people," I say aloud. "Though did you notice that he didn't give them abilities that they would not have received anyway?"

"What?" Anke asks, confused.

"Let me give you an example: I was only able to lift objects when everyone else disappeared. Now I can throw, crush, and manipulate them. Rose could make herself invisible when she left. Now she can make things as large as skyscrapers invisible. Do you see?"

"I think so," says Anke.

"I get it," Adrian says. "With training, Rose's and Anton's abilities would develop naturally, like ours did."

"I see what you're saying," Anke says, nodding. "It's not as if they wouldn't have been able to do the things they can do without the Overlord."

"Exactly," I say. "And I think that's significant. But for now, we have to be prepared for more attacks. Presumably, the Overlord wants something here."

"Or he wants someone here dead," Anke says grimly. "If you think about it, you were present at both of the attacks."

"Coincidence," I dismiss. "So were you. So was my whole family, pretty much. That doesn't really narrow it down."

"You got a better idea?" Anke asks irritably.

"Not really," I admit. "But I guess we should keep a lookout. I'll ask Commander Carl to make sure everyone goes around in groups for protection."

"That will just make them bigger targets and more people could get hurt," argues Anke.

"You got a better idea?" I shoot back.

She glares at me. "Anything but that is a better idea."

"Why?" I demand. "Why is that such a bad idea?"

"Because going round in big groups will make them a bigger target."

"No, people going round in smaller groups will make them bigger targets. You know why? An attacker will see them as a smaller threat. An attacker will attack a smaller group because they're not likely to be able to fight back. If you were an attacker, would you go for the group of two trained agents or the group of eight trained agents?"

"...two," admitted Anke. "I guess that does make sense."

"Thank you. Adrian, can you go tell Commander Carl what we decided?"

"Sure."

Adrian gets up and heads into the OWCA building.

...

 **Hazel's POV**

"Are you sure it doesn't hurt?" I ask my mate anxiously.

"Hazel, for the last time, Adrian healed me." Parker only sounds half irritated. "There's no sign of the wound anywhere."

"How did you even get that stab wound?" Teddy asks from the other side of the room. "I know you went on that mission with Hazel but the wound was healed before we even saw it."

"I made a stupid mistake," Parker says. "I was watching the man we had caught and when I heard Hazel say my name, I turned towards her. She wasn't even addressing me. It was all my own fault. Not only had I let my guard down, but I had failed to spot the knife he was holding."

Teddy grimaces and sucks air through his teeth.

"Exactly," Parker says. "He got my lung."

Teddy repeats the noise he just made.

"Yep. I would have died if Adrian hadn't healed me."

"It's good that the Bionics are beginning to be accepted more," I say. "Especially Hermes." I suddenly remember something. "Teddy, did you know that someone was bullying Hermes just before his first attack?"

"I did, yeah," my brother replies. "But he wouldn't tell me who. Why, do you know?"

"I certainly do. Apollo told me." I fold my arms. "It was your ex-love interest, Madeline."

"What?" snaps Teddy. "Maddy bullied Hermes?"

"Until Hermes was in tears," I say.

Teddy growls. "I knew she was more bitter than she let on when I chose Piper, but bullying my little brother is taking it way too far."

 **Teddy's POV**

At that moment, my little brother enters the room with his girlfriend. He opens his bill to say something but I storm across the room and place my hands on his shoulders. He almost recoils, looking both scared and surprised.

"Was Maddy being cruel to you? I demand.

Realisation lights up his eyes and he slowly nods. "Yes," he replies slowly.

"That's it." I let go of Hermes and head towards the door. "I'm going to give her a piece of my mind."

"No, don't!"

Hermes reaches out and clutches my wrist. "Please, don't," he pleads.

"Hermes, she made you cry!" My voice grows shrill. "I can't let that go!"

"Yes you can. You'll just show Madeline that she got to me, and that's what I've been trying to avoid. Please, let it go."

I narrow my eyes and relax. "Fine. But if she does it again, you better come and tell me." I point at Anke. "If it happens again, you make sure either he or you tell me."

"Gladly," says Anke ominously.

I get the feeling that Anke hates what Maddy did even more than me, which is saying something.

"Okay." I pause. "Sorry, were you going to say something?"

Hermes stares blankly at me for a moment before he suddenly realises. "Oh, yes. There's someone you guys need to meet."

...

 **btw this is NOT the end of the story, this is just a break**


	23. A Visitor

**Hermes's POV**

Lydia has begun training with us. We're working together to try and develop moves including two or more of us and combine our powers.

But I can't focus. I'm too paranoid about where the next attack is inevitably going to happen. Even Anke can't help me focus. She tries, she really does, but it doesn't help. I can't focus on anything except where the next attack will happen.

Commander Carl has taken my advice and told everyone that they must travel in at the very least a group of three, though it is advised that it is a group of six or so, for protection. And people do it, because they're scared. They don't want to be caught defenceless. They know that one Bionic can take down five agents at once, and unfortunately that has re-increased the amount of prejudice we get.

Lydia has it worst, though. Because she actually did attack us, people are showing twice the amount of hatred towards her than they do to me, Anke, Adrian, Lateysha, and Noah combined. This hatred manifests itself mostly in a lot of fear, people avoiding her, and a few cocky idiots who try to throw stuff at her, before she makes the stuff literally blow up in their faces. They stop pretty soon after that but there are still one or two morons who never learn.

 **Perry's POV**

I'm sitting in my office, doing paperwork that I need to do to become Lydia's patron.

Basically, if a non-OWCA animal wants to join OWCA, they need a patron: someone to vouch for them. It can't be a family member, so Terry asked me to be Lydia's patron. All I need to do is fill in a few forms and sign an agreement that until Lydia is of age (eight years old), I will be responsible for anything that goes wrong to do with her. It is a little unfair, since the parent (in this case, her father) should be responsible for their child's behaviour, but since Lydia has powers and my son has powers too, Terry and I both believe that I am the one with the most experience to deal with this. I would have volunteered Hermes to do this, as he has even more experience, but apparently a patron has to be at least eight years old. Hermes is five.

Just after I sign my name at the bottom of the last form, I shake my numb hand to get the feeling back into my fingers. I've been writing for the last hour. I would have filled in an electronic copy of the forms on my computer but since Commander Carl took over, the whole computer system has had to be updated with new firewalls and everything. And since we only have one IT technician, she's working overtime (thanks, Kelly) and she still has several days' worth of work left to go. This means that no computers work in OWCA at the moment.

I stand up, stretch, and gather up the forms. I leave my cubicle, waving to Pinky, who's passing by on the other side. As I turn right at a T-junction, I almost literally bump into a tall, dark skinned woman who is heading in the same direction from the opposite way. Her black hair is in ringlets, and she wears a tight silver office dress.

It takes me a minute to recognise her. After all, I haven't seen her since she was fifteen or so.

"Rai, good to see you! I heard you were starting work here."

"I am indeed," smiles Rai. "Though I signed up to be Major Monogram's assistant, I now find myself as Commander Carl's assistant. Not that that's a bad thing, I just wasn't expecting it. It's nice to join the staff here."

"We literally only have six staff members here," I grin. "Apollo, Artemis, Kelly, you, Jayne, and Lincoln."

"Lincoln?"

"Lincoln Grey," I explain. "It makes sense you haven't met him yet: he hasn't actually started yet. Commander Carl hired him a yesterday but he only starts next week. Kelly is our only IT person and we're in the middle of a large changeover and we need an extra technician so we got Lincoln. I've met him. He's really nerdy and antisocial. Kind of like Kelly."

"I've heard of Kelly but I haven't met her yet," says Rai. "I have met Apollo and Artemis, though, and I love them to bits already."

"They're very sweet, aren't they?" I smile and tip my hat to Rai. "Anyway, I need to get these forms to Carl."

"I'm going there now, I can take them," offers Rai. "I am his new secretary, after all."

"That would be helpful, Rai, thank you."

I hand them gratefully to Rai and say, "if he asks, tell him it's about the patronage."

"Okay. See you, Perry. Or should I call you Agent P?" Rai asks.

"I'm fine with you calling me Perry but I think you should call the others by their titles," I advise. "Some like that better."

"Got it. Thanks, Perry."

She leaves, the heels of her shoes making a muted noise on the carpet. I decide to head back to my office, but, before I can, I hear a loud bang from outside. Immediately after that, the whole building briefly rocks, then everything settles. I steady myself, wondering what on earth that was, before I see a familiar blue turtle running up to me.

"Perry!"

I reach out an arm and catch her as she nearly runs into me. "Lydia, are you okay?"

The blue turtle looks distraught. "It-it's not my f-fault! I-I didn't know wh-what to d-do, I couldn't find D-Dad, I just-I just-."

"Lydia, calm down." I put my hands reassuringly on her shoulders. "What happened?"

Lydia backs out of my grasp, takes my wrist, and pulls me in the direction she was coming in. We leave the OWCA building and go through the field behind OWCA. At the back of the field is the beginning of a forest, and this apparently is where Lydia is taking me. As we get closer, I see a pink residue in the air, and a tree has been toppled over. Lying a little away from the tree is the small, light brown body of what looks to be a lynx or some such animal. From my view, it looks to be male and unconscious.

"Is...is he alive?" I ask hesitantly.

"I-I don't know! I was out here practising my powers away from OWCA with little stones but I saw him and got a fright while holding a small ignited stone which I accidentally threw at the tree, making it topple over, and-oh no, I killed him!" babbles Lydia.

While Lydia is panicking, I bend down and examine the lynx. He has various injuries, but...there's something odd about them.

"No you didn't," I tell Lydia. "He isn't dead. And besides, none of these injuries he has have been inflicted by either you or the falling tree."

"Then...where did he get the injuries from?"

All of a sudden, the lynx jerks, making Lydia yelp and me leap backwards with fright. He reaches towards me like a zombie and croaks, "they're coming, all of them."

Then he sinks to the floor and passes out again.

...

 **ALL OF WHO? FIND OUT NEXT TIME!**


	24. The Gang's All Here

**Cliffhanger resolution, coming up!**

...

 **Anke's POV**

Hermes, Adrian, Lateysha, Noah, and I are called into the hospital by Hermes's dad. Once in there, we find a familiar lynx lying, seemingly dead, on a hospital bed. He is over the covers, which exposes lots of cuts and bruises over his body, arms, and legs.

Lydia is already there. She's sat by the lynx's bed, holding his hand. I let out a muted sob, Adrian goes over to the other side of the bed, Lateysha and Noah tightly clench hands, and Hermes sadly strokes the lynx's shoulder.

"You know him?"

Perry's tone indicates a question but we all know it's more of a statement.

All six of us nod at the same time.

"Laurence," I say. "His name is Laurence the Lynx. He can manipulate light."

"Light..." repeats Perry. "In what way?"

"I don't know about now, but before he left, he could take light away from light sources and give it to others," Hermes says. "If he's been with the Overlord, he might have had his powers developed."

"We don't know he's been with the Overlord," I argue.

"I know." Hermes seems eager to prevent another argument between us. "I know. That's why I said "if" he's been with the Overlord."

"Guys, there's something you should know," Lydia says. "When we found him, he said "they're coming, all of them". What do you think he meant?"

"All of them..." I repeat thoughtfully. "All the remaining Bionics?"

"That's possible," Hermes says, frowning. "Very probable, in fact. But we really need Laurence's full story. There are lots of questions that need answering about this."

"Like why he came here," says Lateysha.

"And how he got hurt so badly," adds Noah.

"And what exactly he meant by what he said," Lydia contributes.

"Exactly," says Hermes. "Adrian, can you run a diagnosis?"

"Can do."

Adrian gently places his paw on Laurence's chest and closes his eyes, concentrating. "Internal bruising, major lung-."

He stops suddenly and quickly places his second paw on Laurence's chest.

"What?" I ask fearfully.

There's silence as we all watch Adrian for a minute or so, our hearts pounding in our chests. Then Adrian takes his second paw off Laurence and says, "Sorry, I only just saw that his lung had collapsed. I had to heal that quickly or he might have suffocated."

Hermes nods, clearly trying to calm himself down. "Good. Carry on."

Adrian closes his eyes again and goes back to his diagnosis. "Fractured spine, internal bleeding in the liver, large blood loss. Even with my ability, it's going to take a few hours to heal him fully."

"How long will it take for you to heal him just enough for him to wake up and talk?" Hermes questions.

Adrian makes a face. "Couple of minutes. Hold on a sec."

He re-lies his second paw on Laurence's chest and pauses. He looks at Perry. "Uh...no offence, but it might be better if only the six of us were here with him. If that's okay?"

"It's fine," Perry says, standing up. "All I ask is to come and report to me when you have more information."

"Of course, Dad," says Hermes.

Father and son hug briefly, before Perry leaves the room.

Adrian begins the healing process. Lydia, Lateysha, and Noah all watch anxiously. Lateysha takes Laurence's right hand with her left, still holding her boyfriend's left hand with her right.

I take Hermes aside. "Are you sure you want to know the answer to this question?" I ask quietly.

He looks at me in confusion. "Yes, of course. I need to know why Laurence is here, why he's so hurt, where he's come from." He pauses and adds, "if he knows who the Overlord is."

Lydia did not prove useful in terms of information on the Overlord. Apparently, she had never even seen him. She said that Rose and Anton had been given the mission without her, and that they had decided to take her along.

"Hermes, we don't know-."

"Anke, he's our best hope of learning about the Overlord," Hermes interrupts. "Lydia doesn't know and Anton and Rose won't tell us. If Laurence came here from the Overlord to warn us, he might have information that he's willing to share with us."

I sigh through my nose and look down at the ground.

"Hey." Hermes gently puts his fingers under my chin and tilts my head up until my eyes meet his. "It's going to be okay. We'll find out who the Overlord is and we'll stop him."

"Guys, he's waking up," calls Lydia from the other side of the room.

Hermes and I hold each other's gazes for a moment longer before Hermes breaks away and heads over to the bed. I follow.

We're about to find out the truth.

...

 **Dun dun DUUUN! Well, not really XD**


	25. Laurence's Story

**Time for the truth :)**

…

 **Hermes's POV**

Lateysha, Noah, and Anke all stay back as I approach. Adrian and Lydia are both on one side of the bed so I sit down on the other side. Adrian has his paw on Laurence's shoulder, clearly easing the lynx's pain. Lydia is still holding Laurence's hand, an expression of pure worry on her face. Her eyes are shining with unshed tears.

Laurence is just waking up. His eyes flutter for a moment before they open properly and focus. He frowns and looks to his left, seeing Lydia.

"Hey, beautiful," he croaks.

Lydia blushes and gives a choked laugh. "Still the same old flirt," she giggles through the tears that drip down her face.

He looks to his right and spots me. "Hermes?"

"Hey, Larry," I grin.

"You remember that I hate that nickname?"

"Oh, absolutely. That's why I used it."

Laurence gives a chuckle that ends in a wince of pain.

"Don't try laughing or talking too much," Adrian advises. Laurence turns his head to look at the panda. "Your lung was collapsed, and you have a lot of internal bleeding and bruising."

"You haven't changed much," Laurence observes. "Neither has Lydia, looks wise. She's still as radiant as ever."

Lydia doesn't blush this time but she does give a small smile. "You haven't changed much either. You're still the same terrible flirt."

"I only flirt when I actually feel attraction towards someone."

 _Now_ Lydia blushes.

Anke clears her throat. "If you guys would quit flirting, that would be great. It's quite painful for the rest of us."

"And Anke's still the same uptight emo," grins Laurence. "Have you run out of depressing music to listen to yet?"

Anke narrows her eyes and folds her arms. "I'm not going to dignify that with a response."

"To be fair, that was a long time ago," I say.

Anke turns her glare on me.

"What?" I spread my arms. "You're not that much emo nowadays, right?"

Anke huffs and rolls her eyes.

"What on earth happened to you?" Lydia bursts out.

Laurence's grin fades and he turns his head away. "Ah."

"First of all, where have you been for the last year?" I ask.

"I left with everyone else," Laurence says. "We didn't know where to go. Anton pretty much led us. He tried to get all of us to come into hiding and practise using our abilities so that we could attack OWCA someday and get revenge."

"Revenge for what?" I ask.

Laurence gives a painful shrug. "Perhaps for making us live without using our powers? Perhaps for all the fear and prejudice that lots of OWCA showed us? I don't know, really. He didn't tell us. Anyway, most of us agreed, me included at the time, so we headed in search of a place to live. But on the way, about half of us caught some kind of illness, probably from some kind of poor drinking water. Anton, Rose, and a few others who weren't infected left those who were."

"I was one of those who left," says Lydia quietly. "I'm not proud."

Adrian pats her shoulder reassuringly.

"It was just me, Lapis, and Sphene who stayed to help," Laurence continues.

"Sphene?" scoffs Anke. "That fox doesn't care about anyone but herself."

"And her sibling," Laurence reminds her. "Farren was affected by the illness."

"Oh."

"Anyway, we tried to tend to those who were ill but we just had no idea what to do. We didn't know-." He breaks off and coughs violently. Adrian helps him lean to the side, his golden healing aura flaring as he works to ease Laurence's pain. "Thanks," wheezes the lynx. "We didn't know what we could do. We didn't know if they were dying or just temporarily sick. Then we were found by this mysterious guy. He was wearing all black and this weird red cloak and mask, obscuring his whole face. He looked like a really dramatic magician."

"The Overlord," I state.

Laurence weakly nods, though he's looking a lot better due to Adrian's gradual healing. "We didn't know it at the time, but yes. He provided us with a huge penthouse place to lay our ill friends. It had no furniture and it was just one massive rectangle so we were able to care for the sick easily. They were all better within days. That same day, Anton, Rose, and the rest of the ones who had left came in."

Laurence looks towards Lydia. "I didn't see you but I assume you were there?"

"I wasn't," Lydia replies. "I only came later. I was found by Nixon when he was out on a mission. He explained the whole Overlord thing to me so I never actually met the Overlord."

"Ah. Well, the guy then explained to all of us that he was called the Overlord. He said he knew of our abilities and he could give us new power."

"New power?" I repeat.

"I'm just telling you what he told me." Laurence pauses and twists his head to look at Adrian. "Sorry, but I'm finding it easier to talk now. Are you doing something?"

"I do have healing powers, you know," says Adrian amusedly.

"Sorry, yes." Laurence blinks. "Anyway, he gave us a room each. He said he owned the entire building, so we got a bedroom each. Although some preferred to share, like-."

"Carter and Kelly?" I ask.

"Yes, like them. But since Lydia wasn't there, I didn't want to share a room with anyone."

Lydia looks down at the ground. I'm sure only I see the shy smile that spreads over her face.

"Every day since then, the Overlord had us practise our abilities over and over again until we could do new things. Many of us believed the Overlord was giving us power by magic, but I knew. I was one of the few who did.

"So fast forward three quarters of a year, and the Overlord starts sending us on missions. He never sent me on a mission so I don't know what they were about but nearly everyone came back with small injuries.

"Then one day, he tells all of us that we can earn great power if we go on a mission to attack OWCA."

"Bet Anton hated that," remarks Lateysha sarcastically.

"Yeah," Laurence grins. "He was the first in line. Practically grovelled at the Overlord's feet to get that mission. But he chose Kate instead."

I feel my heart sink a little. "Yes, she attacked us at home."

"At your house?" Laurence seems surprised. "I thought he said to attack OWCA. Then again, I didn't see the briefing the Overlord gave Kate. Anyway, a few days later, Anton and Rose went in for a briefing. Ten minutes after they left, I realised I couldn't find Lydia. Lapis told me you'd gone with Anton and Rose."

"I had," Lydia confirms. "They waylaid me on their way out and asked if I wanted to come with. They said the Overlord said if I did, he would allow me to leave and live with a family, which is what I wanted the most."

Laurence gazes sadly at Lydia, who is staring at the ground.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about the Overlord?" I ask.

Laurence weakly shakes his head. "Apart from the fact that he had a gravelly voice, he always had some kind of mask on or his face was obscured by shadows. That's all I know."

He suddenly coughs again. After helping him, Adrian takes charge. "Right, you guys need to leave me so I can heal Laurence. Go ponder the information or something."

"I need to report to Dad," I say, stretching. "Anyone coming?"

"I'll come," says Anke immediately.

"Is-is it okay if I stay with Laurence?" Lydia asks Adrian.

The silver panda nods. "As long it's just you, me, and him in here, then that's fine."

"Wait." I suddenly remember a question I haven't asked Laurence. "One more question?"

"I really should-," begins Adrian.

"You want to know where my injuries came from," states Laurence.

I nod.

"Well, when Kate, Rose, Anton, and Lydia didn't come back, the Overlord tried to send all of us on a mission. Everyone agreed except me. Because of what it was, I refused. I didn't want to do it, not even with the promise of power. The Overlord didn't get angry with me, which scared me a lot. All he did was tell the others that I had grossly disrespected him, and they did the rest."

Lydia looks like she's about to cry. "I can't believe they turned on you like that."

"How did you get out?" I ask.

"I had to jump out the window and land on a dumpster. That's how I got this one." Laurence points to a large bruise on his hip. "Then I decided to warn you guys that they were coming, but it turned out I needed help for my injuries. I could barely walk but I made it through the forest that was near the building. On the other side, I saw Lydia."

"I didn't recognise you at first," Lydia says. "I panicked when I saw you and accidentally toppled a tree."

"A tree?" Laurence wheezes. "Man, things have changed in a year, haven't they? We'll have to…catch up…at some…point…"

His head nods and his eyes close. Lydia stands sharply up, close to panicking, but Adrian says quickly, "It's okay, he's just fallen asleep. He's been through a lot today, so I think now we should leave."

Lateysha, Noah, Anke, and I all file out of the hospital room. Lateysha and Noah leave us and head in the direction of the canteen. I realise with a start that we've missed lunch, but I dismiss the thought and head towards my dad's office with Anke. There is one thought that is travelling through my mind over and over again:

What was the mission that Laurence refused to go on?

…

 **The plot thickens I:}**


	26. Preparing

**Perry's POV**

What Hermes tells me is worrying. It seems that nearly a dozen Bionics are on their way to attack OWCA. But why? What could the Overlord possibly have to gain by sending them to attack OWCA? What does he want?

Hermes and Anke go to warn Commander Carl while I stay in my office, wondering how we can prepare ourselves. I rest my head wearily against the desk, thinking hard. How can we prepare for powers when we don't know what they are?

Wait…

My head slowly rises off the desk.

There is a way.

I turn to my filing cabinet and search through all the drawers as far back as three and a half years.

Come on…

Yes!

I triumphantly fish out the notebook from the file. I open the book to the pages where three years ago I wrote down all the powers of the Bionics.

I examine the pages and count them off. Twenty Bionics. Seven of them are on our side. Three of them are in our custody. That leaves ten unaccounted for. I need to get this information to Hermes and the team so they can be prepared.

I feel a thrill fly up my spine at that thought. Hermes and the team. My little son has a team and he's helping protect people without having to properly join OWCA. It makes me feel happy, seeing how much he's grown up. And to think I nearly missed it…

…

 **Anke's POV**

"Okay, guys."

Hermes is addressing the six of us: me, Adrian, Lydia, Lateysha, Noah, and the recently recovered Laurence. It's been one day since Perry came to give us the list of the Bionics and their powers.

"We have ten potential attackers and ten potential powers. We have to prepare defences against them."

I see Lateysha bow her head sadly.

"We have lots of powers and lots of potential weaknesses," continues Hermes. "For example, Nixon the Cat can grow large vines which can attack you. However, he can only do that so long as he has connection with the ground. That's why if Nixon does show up, either I can levitate him off the ground or Tish or Noah can keep him up. Understand?"

We all nod.

"Good. Now, let's get back to training."

Lateysha and Noah go off together to practise and so do Lydia and Laurence. Adrian heads back to the hospital wing. Hermes goes outside. I think about following but he can probably focus a bit better without me there, so I head to practise my abilities with Lydia and Laurence.

 **Hermes's POV**

I focus my power on the nearest car in the car park of OWCA. I lift it into the air, spin it round, throw it into the sky, catch it again, and then put it down. I wish I could do that to a building too but I'm not allowed so I have to keep practising on smaller things.

I feel someone come up behind me. I turn my head and see that it's my brother's mate Piper. The red-furred platypus stands behind me in silence for a minute while I practise, before she says, "You're pushing yourself too far."

I think about denying her statement but I really inadvertently prove it a few moments later when I attempt to pick up six cars at once and fail. "So what?"

"Hermes, don't hurt yourself doing this." Piper puts her hand on my shoulder. "You're becoming obsessed, and that's not good."

"Obsessed with what?" I snap, trying to pick up six cars again. "Trying to save people's lives?"

"I've seen this before." Piper dodges the question. "My brother Luke did the exact same thing. Has anyone told you what happened to our parents?"

"Sam did," I reply. "Last year."

"Then you know that the three of us for many years blamed your father for their deaths?"

"I do." I fling a car high into the air using my powers and nearly miss catching it. "You and Sam eventually realised it wasn't Dad's fault but Luke kept blaming him."

"He did." Piper is silent for another moment. "You know, I remember a time almost eight years ago now where I walked into the gym after hours and found Luke punishing himself. He was hitting the punching bag so hard that his knuckles bled, probably imagining that he was hitting Perry. And it was really scary because he hated Perry that much; he was almost obsessed with getting revenge on him."

"What's your point?" I snap at the platypus who is old enough to be my mother, managing to successfully pick up five cars at once.

"My point is: don't get obsessed. Obsessions like these are unhealthy. They drive you to the point where you'll do anything to fulfil them. You haven't even met this Overlord guy and you're already obsessed with stopping him."

"What am I supposed to do?" I shout at my sister-in-law. "He's turning my friends against me! He sent Kate to our house and nearly killed every single member of our family! He hurt Laurence and got away with it! I can't let him get away with anything else, Piper. If I don't do something about him, he'll kill Teddy or Hazel or Quinn or Mom or Dad or you. Or anyone. We're the only ones with powers. We're the only ones who stand a chance against him. We're the only ones who can stop him."

I put all the cars down with a crash. Then I turn to Piper and face my sister-in-law properly. "I can't lose anyone," I say quietly. "I lost Anke once, and it hurt so much I couldn't think straight. If it were Mom or Dad or any of my siblings that got hurt, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

"You don't have to do this alone," Piper says. "You have Anke, Adrian, the phoenixes, Lydia, and Laurence. All of them look up to you and will follow you into battle. And then there's your parents and siblings and their mates. They can support you. We can support you."

"I don't need anything except to stop the Overlord from hurting anyone else."

With those grim words hanging on the air, I turn and go back towards the building.

Before I get there, however, I see something out of the corner of my eye. It looks like a cross between a fireball and a snowball. Whatever it is, it's going for Piper. I whirl round and yell, "Piper, move!"

She turns quickly and sees the missile. She falls over backwards as the missile gets closer. I race towards my sister-in-law but…

…I'm too late.

…

 **Well, isn't this the mother of all cliffhangers? I'm so evil XD**


	27. The Real Fight part 1 of 2

**EPIC CLIFFHANGER RESOLUTION. Guess I left you guys hanging long enough XD that was rather cruel, wasn't it?**

…

 **Hermes's POV**

But Anke isn't.

The next thing I know, I'm thrown backwards by an explosion. When my hearing and vision come back, I scramble up again and see a dome of pink energy over Piper, protecting her. I turn my head round and see my girlfriend with her arm outstretched towards Piper. She must have heard my yell and come running.

I race towards Piper as Anke lets the forcefield drop. The red platypus is lying propped up on her elbows, facing the sky. I help her to my feet.

"Please tell me you're okay!" I beg. "I can't face Teddy and tell him you got hurt because I was too slow!"

"I'm fine, Hermes."

Piper shakes me off her and walks back towards the building. I see her thank Anke and go inside, probably to find Teddy. I stay outside, warily glancing round for the source of the fireball. There's only one person I know who can control fire…

Anke comes up to me. "Where did that come from?" she asks.

"I don't know. That's what I want to-" I suddenly spot something in the sky. "-get down!"

I push Anke down to the ground as I deliberately fall forwards. A fireball whizzes over our head and explodes several metres behind us. We jump to our feet and prepare ourselves.

 **Lydia's POV**

Laurence and I run outside as we hear the explosion, Lateysha and Noah right behind us. We spread out in an uneven semi-circle shape, staring up at the sky. A large storm of ice, water, and fire is forming and growing stronger in the sky. Anke spreads her arms and prepares to create a forcefield but Hermes takes her wrist. I don't hear what he says to her but it makes her stop.

"My sister," I hear Laurence say.

"Libra." I remember her. She has the power of fire. She used to love Laurence but if his story is anything to go by, she must have turned on him like everyone else.

"And the fox twins," adds Laurence to me. "Sphene and Farren."

"Water and ice," I say aloud, watching the swirling storm. "This is going to be tough."

"That's if they're the only three here," Laurence points out. "If this is the mission that the Overlord tried to send me on, then it's going to be all ten of them."

 **Anke's POV**

The battle starts when a black blur hits into Hermes and sends both of them flying into the distance. I yell my boyfriend's name, but that's when I catch sight of the large purple bird in the sky, who looks like she came out of nowhere. It's Blaze the Crane. She can teleport _and_ fly, so she's going to be tough to take down. She creates a portal in front of her. At the same moment, I create a forcefield bubble around the portal, making her unable to teleport. As long as there is one portal in existence that she has made, she can't create another one. Blaze shrieks angrily and flies sharply towards me, but Noah flings an energy blast at her and she has to change course to avoid it

 **Lateysha's POV**

Vines grow out of the ground around me and Noah and wrap around our feet. We begin flying upwards as hard as we can to try and dislodge them. I break free first and soar into the air. I catch sight of the blue cat hiding behind a bush and fly towards him. He catches sight of me and a vine shoots out of the ground, heading for me. I phase all the way through it, grab Nixon, and fly upwards with him. He struggles until I reach two hundred feet and say sharply, "Stop moving or I will drop you."

He freezes in terror and actually clutches me tighter.

"D-don't drop me!"

 **Laurence's POV**

A large piece of metal comes flying for me and Lydia, who kinetically charges a rock and throws it at the metal, destroying it. Then I see a huge falcon in the sky, one that looks like a 3D star constellation. It's see-through but when it dives for me, I find out the hard way that that does not mean it is untouchable. It hits me and makes me tumble across the grass. As it dives for me again, I aim my palm towards the source in the bush and fire. The falcon dips like it's been hit by an arrow and evaporates.

Lapis the Wolf comes staggering out of the bush and collapses onto the grass, unable to see. Her power is projections, like the falcon, and she's only able to control them when she can see them. And she won't be able to see them for two hours or if I lift the effect. Whichever comes first.

 **Hermes's POV**

I finally manage to catch the super-fast dog off-guard and slam him into a tree. Charlie is instantly knocked out.

 **Lydia's POV**

Dodging Blake the Bear's extremely forceful blows, I grab a large-ish stone, kinetically charge it, and jump into the air. I add more kinetic charge to the stone as I push off from Blake's head. I fly towards the storm of fire, water, and ice. Just as I throw the stone, Blaze the Crane slams into me and sends me flying to the ground. I land a few metres away from Anke, who is still holding a forcefield around Blaze's only portal with one hand and fending off a barrage of metal from Carter with the other.

I look up into the sky and see the stone explode right in the middle of the storm, which fizzes and sparks, before dropping. I suspect that I have knocked out Libra, Sphene, and Farren.

Then I see Nixon tumble to the ground a little way away from Laurence, who immediately goes for Nixon. However, the blue cat is now connected with the ground, and he makes vines grow around Laurence's feet, making him fall over on his back. The vines grow up his legs, keeping him down. Then Kelly the Koala appears out of nowhere, heading towards Laurence.

I feel sick to the pit of my stomach. Kelly has the power of weather manipulation. Her favourite move is striking people with lightning, and she's slowly advancing on Laurence, who is unable to move.

I act almost without thinking. The only thought that runs through my mind as I race across the grass is to protect Laurence. If I'm being entirely honest, I have feelings for him. I don't know if it's love yet but all I do know is that I can't lose him.

Laurence turns away and holds up his arm in front of his face as Kelly's fingers begin sparking. I increase my speed.

Time seems to slow. I leap in front of Laurence just after Kelly shoots a strike of lightning at him. The lightning hits me in the chest and sends electricity through my whole body. It doesn't feel strong enough to kill but it still hurts. A lot.

The force of the bolt sends me flying several metres behind Laurence. I land on my side and roll onto my back in one movement, my whole body shaking from the electricity coursing through my body. My breath is coming in gasps as my body focuses more on controlling the pain than on breathing.

That's when I hear Laurence scream my name, which is the last thing I hear before my eardrums give up.

…

 **Perry's POV**

I have just realised one part of OWCA that has been left unattended. As I burst into the records room, there is a human figure in a cloak going through the records.

"Hey!" I yell.

I start towards the figure, who turns sharply around and hits me on the head so hard that I fall unconscious instantly. I don't even feel my body hit the floor.

…

 **PERRY AND LYDIA! Well, neither of them are life-threatening (or are they?) so hopefully they'll be fine. Well, I already know. XD**


	28. The Real Fight part 2 of 2

**EPIC CLIFFHANGER RESOLUTION! Oh wait, did I say that last chapter? I think I did XD**

…

 **Hermes's POV**

I pick up both Nixon and Kelly, making the vines around Laurence's legs disappear. The lynx immediately gets up and races over to where Lydia fell.

Anke has created a forcefield bubble-prison around Blaze, Lapis, Libra, Sphene, Farren, and Charlie. I add Nixon and Kelly to the temporary prison and head towards Carter and Blake, the only two we have not yet captured.

 **Laurence's POV**

Tears running down my face, I kneel down beside Lydia and clutch her hands as she shakes on the grass. "It's okay, it's okay," I keep repeating shakily. "It'll be okay. You'll be okay."

"It hurts!" Lydia gasps out. "It hurts!"

"I know, I know. It's okay, I'm here."

As I touch Lydia's chest, the place where the lightning bolt hit, I feel a sharp and rather painful tingle of electricity fly up my arm.

"Why did you do that?" I tenderly brush my hand against Lydia's cheek. "It wouldn't have killed me."

"I didn't want you to go through any more pain." Lydia's chest is heaving, a shallow breath punctuating every word.

My breath catches in my throat. "Lydi…"

"Laurence, heads up!" yells Hermes.

I see Blake the Bear come running towards me as fast as he can. If he hits me at that speed, with his combined strength, he might just be able to punt me into the atmosphere, and that wouldn't be good.

I take a chance and take away the light to his eyes. The brown bear's paws fly to his eyes and he veers off-course, hitting into a tree. Anke adds him to her forcefield, though she has to expand it a lot to fit him in.

At that moment, Adrian runs out of the OWCA building and skids down next to Lydia. I get up and move away as Adrian begins easing Lydia's pain. I hope she'll be okay…

 **Hermes's POV**

There's only one we haven't captured now: Carter the Cat. Ferrokinesis. Controlling metal. This is not going to be easy…

We regroup: me, Lateysha, Noah, Laurence, and Anke (who is holding the forcefield containing all the Bionics above our heads) in a circle around Adrian and Lydia.

"There!" yells Lateysha, pointing.

A piece of metal that looks like an extremely large radio tower is flying towards us. Anke cannot raise a forcefield to protect us without letting the other Bionics go, and we can't have that.

It's up to me.

"Get down!" I yell.

Everyone ducks down to one knee. I raise my right arm and point my right hand towards the piece of metal. That thing probably weighs the same as our house…

No. Don't think about that.

Just focus.

I focus all my telekinetic power and send it all up into my hand just as the metal structure comes down. The strain hits me immediately but I force my legs, body, and arm to stay completely straight. My fingers are twitching and sweat is running down my face but I hold strong.

 **Noah's POV**

As Hermes struggles to save our lives, I spot Carter coming running out of the bush, preparing to attack the platypus while he's distracted. I roll out from under the metal structure and run towards Carter; at the moment he's too far away for my energy blasts to have a good chance of hitting him.

As I run, I see Carter ferrokinetically pushing down on the metal structure, increasing the strain on Hermes and his powers. Enraged, I let loose from my hands a huge laser blast of energy in a stream. Carter spots it just in time; he brings up a piece of steel or something and holds it ferrokinetically in front of him as a shield. I keep the stream up, trying to stop him from hurting Hermes any more.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Laurence and Tish running to help me, but I have this in hand. With one final push of strength, I break his shield apart, which forces him to literally fall back and drop his control on the large metal structure.

 **Hermes's POV**

My left hand clenches into a fist as I mimic with my right hand the movement that Diana Fay showed me when she taught me how to throw objects. I'm scared for a moment that I haven't succeeded, but then the structure goes flying away from us.

"You did it!" Anke enthuses.

I turn to look at her and see blood running from her nose. I gasp but she already knows and she says, "Relax, I'm just tired. It's happened before."

"I know."

Adrian helps Lydia to her feet while Laurence and Lateysha capture Carter. Now that everyone has been taken down and there are no more attacks, Anke can focus properly on carrying the Bionics in her forcefield.

"Let's get these guys to the prison cells," I say, panting hard. I'm still struggling to get my breath and strength back after straining myself so much.

"Can the cells hold them?" asks Noah doubtfully.

I nod. "They've been holding Anton and Rose for nearly three days now," I point out. "They have power dampeners installed in them now. It's the best place for them without having to send them to Steele Bay."

Anke nods and carries the forcefield inside. The rest of us are about to follow when, all of a sudden, the ground begins to shake. The three of us who have the worst balance—Adrian, Lydia, and Laurence—tumble over. I almost follow but I use my power to steady myself. Noah and Lateysha hover to avoid the same fate.

"What is that?" shouts Lateysha over the noise of the shaking.

The shaking stops and we slowly stand up. Then a soft voice begins laughing evilly.

I quickly get out the phone that Dad gave me and begin a voice recording, just in case.

"You may think you have stopped me but I already have what I want," says a gravelly voice.

"The Overlord…!" gasps Laurence, turning pale.

Lydia protectively steps in front of him.

"We have your minions in custody!" I yell. I don't really think of the Bionics as "minions"; I guess I'm just trying to get a reaction from the Overlord. "Leave us alone and we'll release them back to you."

"You think I care for those weaklings?" sneers the voice. "I was using them as a distraction. They were useful and now that I have what I want, I do not need them anymore."

"What did you do, you monster?" Lateysha yells bravely. "What did you take?"

"By the time you realise, it'll be too late."

We can almost hear the grin in his voice.

"Now, farewell."

The ground shakes again, more violently. This time, the only two who can hover—Lateysha and Noah—are the only two who don't get knocked to the ground.

Then the shaking stops and the voice has gone.

…

 **Perry's POV**

The first thing I'm aware of is the voice of one of my daughters but, in my hazy mind, I can't place which one it is until I open my eyes and see the silver fur.

"Hazel…?"

"Oh, Dad, thank goodness!" My daughter helps me sit up. "Are you okay?"

I look around and see that I'm still in the records room. I blink several times and rub my forehead to try to stem my splitting headache.

"Something hit me," I remember. "There was a person in here…"

With some protest from my daughter, I struggle to my feet and stumble over to the shelf where I had seen the figure. My shaky hands and blurry vison search the records for anything missing. If my brain were properly in focus, I would have realised that this was the exact same file I was searching through just five years ago. That's why I knew immediately what was missing.

"It's gone," I say quietly. "That's what he or she must have wanted."

"What's gone, Dad?" Hazel asks.

"The list of all of Bill Hawkes's and Dimitri Allen's facilities."

…

 **Dun du-you know what, I'm tired of doing that XD**


	29. To Recruit Or Not To Recruit

**EPIC CLIFFHAN-oh forget it XD**

…

 **Perry's POV**

To my extreme anger, we hadn't been able to get Bill and Dimitri arrested, or even charged. We couldn't even sue them. We just had to leave them alone to continue their research in the few facilities they had left. Although to be honest, I had practically forgiven Dimitri. After all, without him, getting all the information about the Bionics from Bill would have taken a lot longer than it did, though of course I will never forgive him for stealing my son (although that was mostly Bill).

 **Hermes's POV**

Dad passes on the information about what was stolen to me. I tell the rest of my team as we sit on OWCA's lawn, recovering from the battle.

"It must have been the Overlord," Anke says. She looks a lot better, considering that an hour ago she was bleeding from the head. "While we were distracted fighting the Bionics, he must have snuck in and stolen the records."

"And assaulted my dad," I say through gritted teeth. I'm still extremely angry about that. Anke assures me that it's rightly so.

"Why would the Overlord want the list of facilities where the Bionics were made?" asks Lydia. "I mean, he just called the Bionics "weaklings"."

"That's a good point," says Lateysha.

"Why would the Overlord want the list of facilities where the Bionics were made, full stop?" Noah asks. "What could he have to gain by going there?"

"I don't know," I sigh. "And I really don't like not knowing."

"Whatever he wants it for, I'm guessing it's going to end in a battle," Laurence says cynically. "Can the six of us—no offense, but not including Adrian—beat him?"

Even as Anke nods determinedly, I resignedly shake my head. "No."

Everyone turns to look at me. I stare down at the ground, thinking hard. "We can't beat him on our own."

"Hermes, the five of us—again I'm sorry but I'm not including Adrian-."

"You can stop saying that," Adrian interrupts Noah amusedly. "I'm not taking offence. I can't fight with my powers."

"Okay. The five of us beat ten Bionics on our own. How do you know we can't beat the Overlord?"

"Because he's not called the Overlord for nothing," I say, finally looking up at my friends-no, my family. "He made the ground shake and I'm pretty sure he wasn't even trying. How can we-?"

Adrian interrupts again: "That's another point. How _did_ he make the ground shake?"

I stare irritably at my friend. "Again, he's not called the Overlord for nothing. He'd be a pretty poor Overlord if he couldn't do anything out of the ordinary."

"Yes, but how?" persists Adrian. "Where did he get his powers from?"

"I really don't know, Adrian."

Now it's his turn to stare at me. "You're not the least bit curious?"

"No, Adrian, I'm not," I snap, rather more aggressively than I had intended. "Not at the moment. I'm trying to figure out how we can get at least half of the bad Bionics on our side so we can beat the Overlord."

Silence follows this.

"I'm sorry, what?" splutters Anke.

"You heard me."

I expect there to be a heated debate about why that is a bad idea but Laurence says, "Well, they all worship the Overlord, don't they? If we show them that he doesn't really care about them using the voice recording you took, maybe they'll come to our side."

Another pause.

"That's…actually a good idea, Larry," I say.

"Thanks, don't call me Larry."

I stand up and get out my phone. As I walk towards the building, I check that the voice recording is still there. It is. Thank goodness.

As I go through the door, I feel someone catch up to me but I walk faster. "Hermes, slow down," snaps Anke. "I swear, I'm spending half my life nowadays running after you, and I'm getting sick of it."

I don't slow down. "What do you want, Anke?"

"I know you don't want to hear it, but this is a bad idea."

"I knew you were going to say that."

"Well, it's true. Anyone who says they will join us is just a liability on the battlefield. What if they pretend to join us and stab us in the back?"

"They're not smart enough to do that."

Oh man, I didn't mean to say that. That was overly harsh, and not entirely true. Though some like Anton are too blind to see past their loyalty to the Overlord.

"Okay, wow." Anke seems even more annoyed now. "That's uncalled for."

"Anke, I really can't deal with this now."

"Fine."

I hear her footsteps get quieter and I guess that she's left. That does hurt a bit, but I make my way down to the cell. My brother's friends Lennie and Nick are on guard. They wave me through without any fuss but I can see the uneasy look they shoot each other.

I know which Bionics I'm going to try and persuade. Rather, I know which ones I'm _not_ going to try and persuade. Anton, Rose, Kelly, Nixon, and Blake are pretty high up on my list. I'm going to try and target Carter, Lapis, and Libra.

The first cell I get to contains Sphene, who is still unconscious. I'm proud of Lydia for her quick-thinking in stopping Libra's, Sphene's, and Farren's storm.

Then it's Carter, who is lying on his back… _under_ the bed, for some reason. "Carter?"

"Go away, Hermes."

"Hey, _you_ were the one who almost killed _us_ ," I say amiably.

"Whatever."

"Look, Carter, we could use your help. The Overlord's going to attack somewhere and we need your help fighting him. I know you're going to ask why you should help us but-."

"No I'm not." Carter's answer surprises me. He sounds…miserable? "I know what the Overlord really thinks of me."

He rolls over and that's when I catch a glimpse of the scar on his face. It runs from next to his right eye down to the side of his mouth. I wince. "Did the Overlord-?"

"Yes. After most of us beat up Laurence, some of us weren't feeling so great about the attack. We didn't want to hurt people. So the Overlord saw to us personally."

"You and who else?"

"Lapis, Libra, Blaze, and Charlie. The others couldn't wait to beat up more people."

"Carter…" I press my hands against the glass. "We could really do with your help."

Carter gets out from under the bed and walks up to the glass until he's facing me. "I'll help. But for what the Overlord did to me, don't stop me if I beat _him_ up."

"Beating up is fine as long as you don't kill him."

…

Ten minutes later, I'm proud of myself. I've managed to get the four that Carter mentioned on our side, though Blaze's obsession with revenge is a little worrying. I did have to use the voice recording to persuade Lapis and Libra, but I'm confident that we have an army that can beat the Overlord. And as for Kate, Anton, Rose, Kelly, Sphene, Farren, Nixon, and Blake…well, they're going to be moved to Steele Bay for the time being.

I go outside with Carter, Lapis, Blaze, Libra and Charlie. Anke is nowhere to be seen, but a surprise reunion takes place between my old team and the newest recruits. Lydia, Noah, and Lateysha even have a group hug with Libra, Lapis, Carter, and Charlie, which is nice to see.

"Okay, guys," I grin. "We can beat the Overlord. And we're going to."

…

 **Sorry for the hurried ending but it was getting a bit long and I didn't want to chop the chapter in 2 -_-**


	30. The Final Battle part 1 of 2

**TIME FOR AN EPIC FIGHT!**

…

 **Perry's POV**

I manage to catch Hermes as he and the other Bionics are leaving OWCA to go fight. The rest of them file out of the door as I talk to Hermes.

"Be careful," I tell my son quietly.

"I can't, Dad." Hermes's answer surprises me. "I'll fight as hard as I can. You can't be careful and win at the same time with this guy."

"Then you're not going," I say firmly.

"Dad…" Hermes sighs.

"I lost you once, I can't lose you again." I almost begin crying as I plead with my youngest son. "Please, I can't lose you again."

"Dad, there are twelve of us, counting Adrian," he says. "We have a good chance at beating him but we have to go now."

"Hermes?" It's Priya. She runs up to us and hugs Hermes tightly. "Please don't go. I-I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Mom, it'll be fine." Hermes gently pulls away from the two of us. "But I have to go now."

Priya begins crying into my shoulder as Hermes leaves OWCA, perhaps for good.

…

 **Hermes's POV**

The twelve of us are heading straight towards the main facility, the one that Bill and Dimitri were last seen at. I think I might have managed to figure out why the Overlord might want to attack a facility, and if it's why I think it is, then Bill and Dimitri are the targets.

I'm not sure how I feel about Bill and Dimitri. Of course, they were the ones who snatched me away from my mother and I will never forgive them for that, but they did give me these powers, and although it was in a horrible way, I feel like I'm better off with the powers. If I hadn't had powers, I would probably have lived in Teddy's and Hazel's shadows with nothing to set me apart from them. Now I am actually different.

 **Lydia's POV**

We make it to the facility in just under an hour, seeing as it's one just outside Danville. We gather in a semi-circle as Hermes addresses us: "Remember, the Overlord is the enemy. Take him down at-."

The ground suddenly starts shaking again. Pretty much all of us except the ones that can fly fall over. I roll onto my stomach and look up. I see a figure walking along the ground towards us. He has a large red cloak on, along with a mask that covers his entire face apart from his eyes.

"That's him," says Carter rather matter-of-factly.

"I guessed," Anke snaps back.

"Bill Hawkes!" bellows the same gravelly voice that we heard after the battle with the Bionics.

A few seconds later, a large man comes running out of the facility, followed by a younger man. Bill and Dimitri. I recognise them instantly. They haven't changed much in the two years we've been away from them.

I see Hermes gnash his teeth and narrow his eyes at Bill and Dimitri. The other Bionics aren't reacting much better towards them. I feel angry with them too.

"Who are you?" demands Bill loudly.

Dimitri pretend-casually edges behind Bill for protection.

The Overlord laughs, which sends a chill down my spine. "You've really forgotten me already?"

"You do have a mask on," Bill points out in a mocking tone. "If you want me to remember you, why did you wear a mask so I can't see your face?"

"Bill, don't sass the scary guy with a big cloak and earthquake powers," we all hear Dimitri mutter to Bill, scared.

The Overlord lifts his hand and the ground shakes again. Bill and Dimitri lose their balance and topple over backwards. The Overlord takes a few more steps forwards, before Hermes yells, "Stop right there!"

"Oh, the Bionics." The Overlord grins. "The chosen dozen."

 _"_ _Bionics?"_ gasps Dimitri in shock.

"Yes, your creations. They're here to protect you." The Overlord sighs deeply. "They really think they can stop me."

"We _can_ stop you!" yells Anke bravely.

"Yeah!" Laurence agrees loudly, though his bravado seems to be fading fast.

"Didn't I banish you?" says the Overlord idly.

"No, you told everyone else to beat me up so I escaped," snarls Laurence. "Don't think I haven't forgotten."

"Oh, I didn't expect you to have forgotten. Anyway, enough talk."

The Overlord lifts his hands again.

 **Hermes's POV**

In the same moment, Lateysha, Noah, and Blaze lift up Adrian, Lapis, and Libra respectively. I lift up everyone else with my telekinesis. This means that when the ground shakes for the third time, only Bill and Dimitri are affected.

While in the air, Lapis projects her falcon, which attacks the Overlord. At the same time, Libra launches fireballs and Noah flings energy blasts. The Overlord blocks all of these with a wave of his hand. Vibrations come out of his hand and knock all the missiles out of the air.

"Anke, get Bill and Dimitri out of here," I command my girlfriend.

"What?" She glares at me. "Why?"

"Because that's our job. We're here to protect them," I point out.

"Yes, but-." Anke ducks in mid-air, dodging a fireball that comes shooting her way.

"He can reflect our attacks back at us!" yells Blaze as she swoops past us.

"Anke, I don't care that you hate them because of what they did to you, do you think it's any easier for me?" I snap. "But for now, the Overlord is the bad guy, not them. Now do as I say."

Anke glares at me, before grumpily putting a dome around the two cowering men.

The Overlord clenches his fist and makes huge clods of earth pop up from the ground. They slowly change shape until they're vaguely human-shaped, and then they attack. Carter flings a sharp shard of metal at one of them, which cuts it in half. No sooner has it happened than the earthman (which is what I've now dubbed them) reforms and attacks Carter back, who scrambles backwards in great alarm.

"What are these?" he splutters.

"Everyone, listen!" I yell. "Tish, Noah, Lydia, Laurence, Carter, Lapis, Libra, and Charlie will fight these guys. Adrian, stay back and help if anyone gets injured. Anke, keep protecting Bill and Dimitri. Blaze, come with me to attack the Overlord."

Blaze swoops over my head as I use my telekinesis to propel myself quickly forwards. As I do, I forwards somersault over a fallen earthman as it reforms.

The Overlord is attacking the forcefield that holds Bill and Dimitri, both of whom are cowering in fear. I reach out with my telekinesis and push the Overlord into the wall of the facility. Then I pull his mask off telekinetically. I step back in horror.

Underneath the mask, his face is scarred, swollen, and marred. It looks very unhuman-like. As I watch the Overlord get up, long, scorched hair falls from a top hair bun. This makes his face look a lot more…

Feminine.

I hear Bill Hawkes gasp as the Overlord turns to face us.

 _"_ _Tamsin?"_

…

 **WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?! XD the Overlord is a female?**


	31. The Final Battle part 2 of 2

**So here it is: the penultimate chapter. *sobs* Oh, and there will be mentions of blood and death.**

…

 **Blaze's POV**

I land beside Hermes and stare at the Overlord, who says in the same husky voice as before, "Hello, Bill."

"Tamsin…!" Bill gasps again. "What the hell…? I thought you were…you were…"

"Dead," finishes the Overlord—no, _Tamsin._ "You thought I was dead because you left me for dead. Let me jog your memory: bionic chip, human test subject, presumed failure? Any of that ringing a bell?"

Bill stares at Tamsin in horror. Dimitri is looking confusedly at Bill. We hear him say, "Bill, you didn't use human test subjects, did you?"

Both Bill and Tamsin open their mouths to reply but Hermes gets there first. "No, not subjects. Subject."

Everyone turns to look at Hermes. Tamsin gestures mock-politely to Hermes, indicating for him to tell the story.

"You used Tamsin as the first human test subject for the bionic chip, way before Project Newborn was ever a thing. The upgraded chip reacted badly in Anke and me, causing massive amounts of pain. I'd imagine that the prototype bionic chip altered Tamsin's DNA way too much, causing the scarring on her face. It looked like a failure to you so you abandoned her. You decided to test the chips on animals next, leading to Project Newborn. But what you didn't know was that the chip implant was actually a success. The chip, while scarring her badly, gave Tamsin the ability to control earth. Hence the earthquakes and the men made out of soil. That's why Tamsin stole the list of your facilities from OWCA."

"I wanted revenge," snarls Tamsin. "I got these powers that I didn't want because of you lying to me about what the chip did. Then you abandoned me without even waiting to see if the chip worked."

"But why use us?" I ask Tamsin. "The Bionics, I mean."

"I was going to make a distraction anyway so that I could steal the list of facilities. I just happened to find your kind on the street so I gave you a place to live in the hopes that you would be able to attack OWCA for me so I could steal the list."

"You assaulted my dad," Hermes accuses.

"Who, the teal platypus?" Tamsin pretends to think. "Oh, yes. Well, he was in my way. So I had no choice. Now get out of my way so I can take my revenge."

 **Hermes's POV**

I take a step to my left, blocking the pink forcefield from Tamsin. "No," I say firmly. "No, you're not going to hurt or kill anyone else."

Tamsin laughs huskily. "Wanna bet?"

She waves her hand.

Blaze suddenly lets out a haunting cry. I whirl round to face her and find that an earthman with a spear has plunged the weapon through her back, splattering blood on her chest.

"No!" I yell. "NO!"

I rush towards Blaze and kick the earthman away. It comes to attack again, but Charlie the Dog speed-runs into it and carries it away.

I catch Blaze as she collapses backwards. Kneeling, I lie the crane down, resting her shoulders and neck sideways on my knees. I examine the wound. It looks very bad. I look wildly around for Adrian but in my heart I know there's nothing he can do. I look down at Blaze's face with tears in my eyes as the crane gasps for breath.

"Y-you're gonna be…y-you're gonna b-be okay…" I stammer.

She gives me one last smile before the light dies from her eyes and her head slumps sideways. Tears are rolling down my face and I have neither the time nor inclination to wipe them away. I'm not ashamed to be crying for my fallen friend. Just three hours ago, we were enemies. Now she's been killed while fighting by my side.

I look back up at Tamsin and find that the evil woman has resumed her attack on Anke's forcefield. She's taking advantage of the fact that Anke is crying and not focused, and I know that any minute now, Tamsin will be able to break through the forcefield and kill Bill and Dimitri. But I myself am not focused, so I can't use my power either.

 **Lydia's POV**

I leave Charlie the Dog's side, wiping away the tears with the back of my hand. Poor Charlie…when he tackled the earthman that was about to attack Hermes and Blaze again, he hadn't realised that the earthman was so fast. When they stopped moving, the earthman had managed to stab Charlie. The poor dog hadn't survived.

That's when I catch sight of the Overlord. Tamsin. She's attacking Anke's forcefield. I automatically think _oh no you don't._

I charge forwards, ducking past the others' battles, and kick Tamsin in the side. She gets thrown off-balance a little so, before she can recover it, I grab her wrist and kinetically charge her whole body.

"Lydia!" shouts Anke in alarm.

"Don't move," I snarl at Tamsin. "You know what I can do. If I let go of you, you blow up."

Tamsin stares at me, real fear in her eyes. It almost looks like my own fear that's being reflected in her eyes, which are the same colour as mine.

"Lydia!" Hermes shouts at me. "Don't do it!"

"Her earthmen killed Charlie too!" I bawl. "Blaze and Charlie are both dead, and it's because of her! Why shouldn't I kill her?"

"Because you're not a killer, unlike her."

That's Laurence's voice. It continues, "You're better than this. You don't need to kill for revenge. That's not you. You're kind and sweet and you never like hurting anyone unless they've hurt you. So I know that you must be hurting really bad if you want to kill Tamsin. But believe me, this isn't the way. We'll get justice for Charlie and Blaze but this isn't the way. Trust me."

"Then what is the way?" I wail. "Prison is too good for her."

"Steele Bay isn't," promises Hermes. "Lydia, I promise she'll answer for what she's done."

Breathing heavily, I really believe for a moment that I'm going to let go and cause Tamsin to die. But I know Laurence's words are true: I'm not a killer. I extinguish the kinetic energy just as Hermes drops a heavy bit of pipe on her head, knocking her out.

 **Anke's POV**

We've won. The cost has been rather heavy but we have won. It seems like it's over too quickly but it isn't, not really.

We've really been fighting this battle for five years and we haven't even known it.

…

 ***sobs again* poor Blaze and Charlie. But then again, they died after picking the right side after all.**


	32. Epilogue

**IT'S THE LAST CHAPTER! I can't believe it, it seems like it's gone so fast! Please enjoy :)**

…

 **Hermes's POV**

The memorial has grown. It used to only have two platypuses on it: Dad's friends, Ohio and India. Then my brother's friend Mayfair was added to it. Then, on Dad's request, a small macaw was added. I think her name was Maggie.

Finally, there is a crane and a dog. Blaze and Charlie. They died protecting people, and we will never forget that.

It's been three days since the attack. I'm standing by the side of the memorial, hand in hand with Anke. In fact, there are three couples standing beside the statues. Me and Anke, Noah and Lateysha, and Laurence and Lydia. We're all holding hands with our partner.

"Will OWCA ever get used to us?" asks Lydia out of the blue.

I find myself shaking my head. "Of course they won't. Not after the attack of the Bionics. Nobody really knows about the battle against the Overlord, so the former is all anyone has to go on. Plus, we have scary supernatural powers. Even without the attack, I doubt anyone will fully trust us."

"Except your family," grins Laurence.

"Yes, except my family," I chuckle. "It's just because my parents are very open-minded."

Silence follows this. We all stare thoughtfully at the memorial. The moment when Blaze died hasn't been able to leave my head. I keep hearing her cry out and seeing the moment when her bright blue eyes became dull.

Lydia breaks the silence again: "So…are you guys going to consider Adrian's proposal?"

"What's to consider?" asks Anke. "It's a great idea."

"You think having a whole island to ourselves is a great idea?" I ask incredulously.

"It's not to ourselves." Anke nudges me with her elbow. "It'll be for all the Bionics. It provides a safe place for their children and _their_ children to grow up. We don't want any Bionic children growing up with prejudice and fear."

"True," I say. "Very true. But it'll only be for Bionics, yes?"

"Well…if a Bionics gets a non-Bionic mate, then of course the non-Bionic will live on the island with their Bionic mate," says Lateysha.

"Oh, well of course."

Another pause.

"You do know I'm referring to someone there, right?" grins Lateysha.

"What? Who?" I ask.

"Adrian," Lateysha says, her grin widening. "He's been getting quite close to Berry, isn't he?"

"Berry…?" says Noah, frowning.

"Cassie and Ravi's youngest," explains Lateysha. "He healed her two days ago and now she never leaves his side."

"It's a bit early to call them mates, Tish," Noah says, though he's also grinning.

Laurence and Lydia look at each other. "Well, it's time we went in," says Lydia. "See you guys later."

"See you," comes the chorus of voices.

Just as the cat and the turtle go inside, the panda comes outside. "I swear, Berry won't leave me alone," Adrian sighs.

"But you do like her right?" Lateysha asks.

Adrian looks surprised. "Well, yeah. I suppose I do. She's kind and pretty."

Lateysha shoots a triumphant look at Noah, who rolls his eyes good-humorously.

Now it's the five of us standing out here, looking at the memorial.

"The original five," Anke says aloud. "Remember that day we started our training? That was more than a month ago."

"Oh man, don't say that!" I bury my face in my other hand. "Now I'm confused about time. It seems like the whole thing was over so quickly, like in the space of a week or something."

The others let out murmurs of agreement.

One by one, we leave the memorial. First Tish and Noah, then Adrian, then Anke, who gives me a quick kiss before she goes.

I kneel down beside the memorial and place my hand on the bronze head of the Ohio statue. Without Ohio and India, Danville wouldn't be here.

I move my hand to the paw of the cat figure. Without Mayfair, Hazel wouldn't be here.

Then I move my hand to Blaze's wing. She and Charlie may not have died heroes, but they died doing the right thing. I will always miss them.

I stand up and head towards the OWCA building, watching Paige and Lokie chase each other on the grass.

My story may not have had the happiest of beginnings, but I think it's turned out well. I have Anke, I have my parents, I have my siblings, and I have their families. None of them gave up on me, and I wouldn't be the person I am today without them. I just have one thing to say to all those people who supported me and who opposed me, for they all made me stronger.

Thank you.

…

 ***tries not to sob* good ending? If you liked this story, please review :) and watch out for Quinn's Decision, coming after I have finished my British Organisation Without A Cool Acronym story.**

 **Also: thanks to Nightflame203 for reviewing every chapter and giving me advice and awaiting each new chapter with anticipation. You're almost the entire reason I write, basically :)**


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